A Different Sort
by Gimlifan8
Summary: A new Slytherin named Sephiroth upsets the balance of the healthy(?) inter-house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Set in Severus Snape's fifth year; no Slash. Told mostly from Snape's point of view, so there should be no problem reading even if you've never played FFVII.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this chapter of the story has been uploaded once before. I had to make some major changes, so here's the updated version. Before finishing any of my current fanfics, another has popped into my head. This story might be sparsely updated, or it might be frequently updated. I honestly cannot say.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not JKR, not Square Enix either.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

A thin boy with sallow skin sat at the Slytherin table, fidgeting restlessly. The boy was in his fifth year at Hogwarts, having passed the last four years very comfortably. Dark oily hair hung to his chin, a source of constant teasing. And it wasn't well-meaning teasing, either. This boy was the favorite target of a group calling themselves the Marauders. They were in their fifth year as well, and they were all from Gryffindor.

"Oi, Severus!" another fifth year named Mulciber elbowed him. "Had a nice summer?"

"Nice is not the word I'd use," he mumbled, almost to himself. "All right, I suppose."

"Saarfield, Sarah!"

Professor McGonagall was calling out the names of first years. A brunette with sparkling earrings on her ears stepped forward to sit on the stool.

"Gryffindor!"

Severus winced, letting out a small groan. "Far too many Gryffindors this year."

"Who cares?" laughed Avery. "Quality over quantity, I say!"

Severus squinted at him. "That was actually pretty good. Been stacking up on taunts, Ave?"

Avery flushed, annoyed. "Hey, I was always sharp!" he protested. "Better than you, eh? Better than learning your comebacks from a little mudblood."

"Don't call her that," Severus said, almost absent-mindedly, as his eyes drifted to a pretty girl sitting at the Gryffindor table.

Lily Evans was the sort of girl that turned heads wherever she went. She was stunning even at only fifteen years of age, with vibrant red locks and bright green eyes. Her smiles could make a room light up, and she had been brightening Severus' days since they had met at the park near his house six years ago. She was pretty much the only bright spot in his dull and sometimes painful days over the summer.

Okay, so Severus Snape was a little bit in love. Maybe more than a little. Fine, so he was crazy over her. He was her best friend; he was allowed to be. He wasn't like her other admirers who only ogled her from afar and never bothered to get to know her.

As luck would have it, Lily was looking back. Their eyes met, and she gave him a smile. Snape returned it automatically, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Hey, Severus! Quit ogling and look at the sorting!"

Annoyed, he looked back at his friend. Avery was staring at the front of the hall with wide eyes. "What's there to watch in a sorting?"

"Last one's about our age! McGonagall says he's transferred from Ilvermorny!"

That was unheard of. Severus straightened, turning his eyes to the front. The one sitting on the tool was rather eye-catching. For one, he had long silver hair spilling down his back, reaching past his waist. He sat there silently and calmly, not partaking in conversation with the hat as some firsties were wont to do.

"It's been more than five minutes, now," Mulciber muttered. "What's taking so long?"

The entire hall had gone silent. Albus Dumbledore was sitting very straight in his chair; professors were glancing at each other and back to the transferred student as tension thrummed through the hall. Indeed, the student himself seemed to be the only one unaffected.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Severus roared along with the others. To get the first transferred student in God only knew how many years was no mean feat, in his opinion. The boy slipped off the hat and stood, unruffled as he made his way over to the Slytherin table amidst thunderous applause.

"What's his name?" Severus whispered to Avery.

"Sephiroth Crescent," Avery murmured back. Severus looked automatically towards Lily Evans once; the girl gave him a thumb up. Smiling, he glanced at Crescent. The boy had sat down in the empty seat between Mulciber and Nott, a fourth year. He was taller than both, and made Nott look almost dwarfed.

Professor McGonagall called out, "Your attention, please."

Everyone turned to Professor Dumbledore, who had gotten to his feet.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts," he began, spreading his arms. "Just a few words before we are all fed and watered. The Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Quidditch tryouts will be held in the first weekend of October. And finally, as our old students already know, since the last year we have been holding the Duelling Club sessions. Anyone not in first year is eligible to sign up for the Duelling Club. At the end of the year, the Duelling trophy is awarded to the tournament winner. Those interested in joining may speak to Professor Flitwick. And now, feast time!"

The plates filled with food, and everyone dug in, Severus included. He had missed Hogwarts' cooking over the summer.

"What's the point?" Mulciber muttered to Severus, regarding Dumbledore's last words. "Rhapsodos or Hewley will get it. No one else even came close last year."

"The Duelling trophy?"

Mulciber turned to Crescent, frowning. "You wanna join?"

"I'm certainly interested," said Crescent. "We didn't have a Duelling Club at Ilvermorny."

"Which House were you in?" asked Avery.

"Thunderbird."

"That's the House for adventurers, right?"

"That's what they say," said Crescent.

"What's with the hair?" said Mulciber. "You look like a girl."

Crescent didn't respond, but Snape thought he saw a subtle eye roll. That encouraged him to speak. Any Slytherin who could pick up on Mulciber's idiocy on his first day was worth getting to know.

He held out a hand. "Name's Snape," he said. "Severus Snape."

Crescent shook it. "Sephiroth Crescent," he said.

"Crescent... I haven't heard the family name," Avery piped up.

"You wouldn't," said Crescent. And he left it at that, so Avery prompted, "Why's that? You a mudblood?"

"Me, a Slytherin?" Crescent had a slight smile curving the sides of his lips.

Avery laughed. "Point," he said. "But seriously, muggle father or something?"

"Or something," said Crescent.

Avery groaned. "Watch it, newbie," he said. "Don't get smart. I made prefect this year."

Crescent turned fully to him, a challenge in his green eyes. "Is that right?"

"That's exactly right," sneered Avery.

Crescent raised an eyebrow. "And not discussing my private life with my classmates is grounds for disciplining, is it?"

Avery shared a look with Mulciber, one that said, 'We're going to teach him a lesson'. Severus felt the tension emanating from them for the rest of the meal, but they remained silent.

After the feast ended, he walked forward for an exchange of words with Lily Evans, who also paused on the other side of the hall. Lily's friends gave her what could only be described as exasperated looks before they left without her, laughing at something on their way up the stairs.

"Hey," he said.

"Hello," said Lily, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. "Listen, I've got to get the first years up to the dormitory, okay? I'll talk to you later."

And it was then that he remembered - Lily had also made prefect. Sighing, he said, "Fine."

As he turned away, someone who definitely didn't belong amongst the Gryffindor firsties caught his eye. Sephiroth Crescent stood with a first year Gryffindor, talking in low voices. The first year was a girl with long red hair and green eyes. As he watched, Crescent bent down and embraced the girl and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Then they parted ways.

"Family?" said Severus as they made their way towards the Slytherin dungeons.

"Yes," said Crescent shortly. Severus was quickly realizing that Crescent might just be the least talkative student he had met in his entire life. Instead of talking, he was looking around, familiarizing himself with the path to the dormitory.

Severus felt obligated to warn him, however - "A Gryffindor is the most dangerous company you can keep as a Slytherin," he said. "It will not go well with our Housemates."

"You seem to be doing fine with your Gryffindor friend," said Crescent, with a small smile.

"She's special," Severus snapped, and then flushed. Crescent made no indication that he had noticed it.

"So is she," he said simply.

They made their way to the Slytherin common room in silence. Once in, Severus was gratified to see that everyone had already left for their dormitories. Crescent sat down on the sofa, pulling out a book as he did so. Severus gave him a questioning look, but he didn't respond.

Severus shrugged, already turning to go up to the fifth years' dormitory.

"Oh, and Snape," he looked back at Crescent, "Call me Sephiroth."

"Severus," he replied after a moment, before turning on his heel and heading off to bed.

* * *

**Thoughts?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: If anyone is here without having read the updated first chapter I posted a few days ago, I suggest you go back and read it, because it had been significantly modified and contains altered plot points.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Severus woke up to hushed voices.

"You try, if you're so clever-"

"It's like it's bolted shut! Who in their right mind-"

"Probably suspected, with your attitude-"

"What's going on?" Severus said blearily, poking his head around his curtain. A strange sight greeted him - Avery and Mulciber were crowded around Sephiroth's bed, of which the curtains were drawn closed. Avery was muttering some sort of spell under his breath while Mulciber tried to physically wrench the drapes open. Despite being made of cloth, they remained firmly closed as if locked somehow.

Severus groaned. "What are you two up to now?"

"Severus?" Mulciber whispered. "Go back to bed."

Deciding it was probably none of his business, Severus flopped back into bed, shaking his head at the sheer stupidity of his friends. Who pulled pranks on their classmates _and _Housemates? It was bound to come back to haunt them, even should they succeed. Sephiroth didn't seem the type to just lie down and let other people walk over him.

Unless, of course, it _was_ a prank war that they wanted.

After about half an hour of lying down, he gave up on sleep and pulled his curtains open. He glanced at the clock - it was still about twenty minutes before breakfast started. He threw off the covers anyway. Perhaps he could catch Lily before breakfast. She had always been an early riser.

He found her by the lake, leaning on a tree trunk and conversing with the first year he had seen with Sephiroth last night. On seeing him, Lily gave him a smile.

"Hi, Sev," she said. "Come meet Aerith."

"Hello," the girl said in a sing-song voice, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Hi," he said stiffly. "Aerith Crescent?"

"Oh no, I'm Aerith Gast," she said. "Sephiroth's my adopted brother. Are you his friend?"

"Acquaintance."

"Oh, I'm glad. You'll be friends in no time! He doesn't like talking, too," she giggled to herself.

Severus decided he didn't like this girl. She was far too happy-go-lucky for his tastes. "Well, it was nice meeting you," he said.

Lily gave him a disapproving look. "Aerith, I think it's time for breakfast," she said.

"Oh, you're right!" she said. "I can go alone. You talk to Sev."

"Severus," he said.

"I'm sorry. Severus. It was nice talking to you!" With a cheerful wave, she skipped off.

Lily faced him with a concerned gaze. "How's everything, then? Potter and his gang was talking about you last night. They haven't tried anything yet, have they?"

"Not yet," said Severus. "But thanks for the heads-up."

"Remus is Prefect," Lily shook her head. "I mean, I can see where Dumbledore's coming from, given the alternatives, but he won't be able to stop Potter and Black. He hardly ever notices what they're up to."

"Oh, he notices all right," Severus said bitterly. "He even joins in."

"Not that I've seen," said Lily.

"It's me they attack, Lily. I can tell you, he's always supporting them."

"I suppose." Then Lily brightened. "Aerith's such a dear. I've been talking to her - she's half-and-half with a witch mother - and she said she's been growing Dittany in their back garden. Can you believe it? It's supposed to be really advanced - and she's been helping people with it, too!"

"Yeah," said Severus, unenthusiastic.

"What's Crescent like, then?"

"Why do you ask?" Severus frowned, suspicious. Now that he thought about it, Sephiroth was better looking than Black. What if Lily had a crush, he thought wildly, and then dismissed the thought just as quickly. Lily wouldn't. She was not so shallow as to judge people merely by appearance.

Lily arched an eyebrow at Severus' choice of words. "Curious," she said. "I can't remember anyone ever saying anything about Hogwarts accepting transfer students."

"Oh." Severus relaxed and thought about the question. "Opposite of Aerith," he said finally, and Lily laughed.

"I'm imagining a silver-haired version of you," she said.

"He's not like me," said Severus, scowling. "He just doesn't talk a lot."

Lily shrugged. "Come on," she said. "Let's go for breakfast. I could do with some food."

"See you after class," said Severus, as they parted ways.

* * *

Breakfast was uneventful. Classes were not.

First class was Slughorn's, double potions with the Gryffindors. This was the one class Severus really looked forward to. Despite not being one of Slughorn's favorites, he knew for a fact that he was the best in the class. This was a subject Rhapsodos had not beaten him at, ever.

Rhapsodos. The very name brought a scowl to Severus' face. Genesis Rhapsodos was a fifth year Gryffinor, the best in every class involving spellwork. Of course, it was only expected of him, being the reigning Duelling champion.

James Potter and Sirius Black had been the most popular Gryffindor until last year. Rhapsodos had been a charismatic but quieter presence. But then he had taken the duelling club by storm, having won every match he had been in. It had been a very tight contest between him and Angeal Hewley in the final, with the now Hufflepuff prefect also having been unbeaten until that point. The tension was palpable in the days leading up to the final, as Hufflepuff and Gryffindors caused almost as much ruckus as they would for a Quidditch Final. But Rhapsodos and Hewley, being the very best of friends, took no part in it. After he had won, Rhapsodos specifically mentioned Hewley's name in the presentation ceremony, citing him as a major contributing factor for his win.

After that, he had become some sort of a chick magnet. Girls flocked to him, and he rather enjoyed the attention. More importantly for Severus, however, the win had also gotten him 100 house points and made Gryffindors positively insufferable in their pride.

Hewley was a more neutral factor for Severus, even a little on the positive side. He was a boy with an almost unhealthy obsession with following law and order and protecting one's _honour_. One time Potter and Black had gotten caught cursing Severus in front of him. Hewley had not only taken part in the fight on Severus' behalf, defeating the Marauders in the process, he had also spent the next ten minutes lecturing immobilized Potter and Black on how dishonourable he found the whole thing. It had been almost comical, and remained one of Severus' very few sweet memories involving the Marauders.

Slughorn entered the class beaming.

"Welcome to a new year!" he said. "We have a new one here, isn't that right? Sephiroth Crescent?"

All eyes turned to Sephiroth, who was sitting very straight in his chair with an impassive expression.

"He comes very highly recommended," Slughorn told the class. "'A talent like that comes once a generation if we're very lucky', was the words of the Headmistress of Ilvermorny, isn't that right? Welcome to Hogwarts, dear boy!"

"Thank you," Sephiroth said curtly. Slughorn's face fell slightly, and when he spoke next, it was to the whole classroom.

"This is your OWL year," he said. "I won't put unnecessary pressure on you - everything you'll make in this classroom may come up in your OWL exam. First, the Draught of Peace! You'll have one hour to complete the potion. Instructions are in your book; the necessary ingredients are in the cupboard. Your time starts now!"

Severus pulled out his potions textbook, following the instructions he had altered. Two rows to his left Lily was working with the instructions he had allowed her to copy off him - and Severus had no doubt she would get all the praise as usual, despite his potion being just as good.

Slughorn was hovering over Sephiroth's potion, the row to his right. Severus sneaked a glance - Sephiroth's hand was remarkably steady in chopping, but he seemed to be following the textbook recipe - his potion was progressing slower than Severus'.

"On Friday night, we'll have a gathering - just a meeting of friends," Slughorn was saying, and Severus rolled his eyes._ The Slug Club_. "I insist you come. Just a little merrymaking - you wouldn't be averse to it?"

"I'll think about it," Sephiroth said.

"Very well, very well," said Slughorn. "You won't be disappointed if you come, dear boy!"

Then he moved over to Lily's cauldron, exclaiming over what a fabulous and perfect shade it was at this stage. Severus focused back on his own potion.

In the end, their potions - his, and Lily's - were identical. Slughorn gave both of them full marks - at least he was fair in that.

Their class after that was Herbology. Severus and Lily went their separate ways, with Lily having a free period. It was only later that Severus realized the Marauders had not left with the Gryffindor crowd.

He was only a few meters from the door to the Greenhouse when Potter called, "Had a good summer, Snivelly?"

Severus pulled out his wand immediately, but before he could lift it, Black shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

His wand flew away and landed on the grass. He dove after it, knowing all the while that he probably wouldn't reach it before -

"Petrificus Totalus!"

His joints locked together, and he fell to the grass. Potter and Black advanced on him.

"All right there?" Potter said. "You look a little… constipated."

"Oh, that's just his natural expression," Black said viciously, and they both laughed, Pettigrew laughing along with them. Lupin, the coward, only stood there with his eyes averted.

All around, the Slytherins stood, no one making any move to help, only gawking. Avery and Mulciber weren't there yet, not that they stood a chance.

Potter bent and rummaged through Severus' bag. "Oh ho," he said. "What have we here? He's been scribbling all over his potions textbook! Destroying school property, Snivellus? You didn't buy this - this came from the school stock! Who said you could doodle over it?"

"What's this say?" said Black, coming to stand beside Potter. "Levicorpus? I wonder what this do?"

_Please, no…_

"I'm sure it can't be bad, Sirius," said Potter. "Dear little Snivelly wouldn't dream of hurting anyone."

"All the same, we'd like to test it, if it's okay with you?" Black lifted his wand and pointed it at Severus.

"Move, please." that voice came from the crowd, and while Severus could not see the person, he recognized the voice - it was Sephiroth. "We have a class here."

"The new Slytherin! Prodigy of a generation, isn't that right?" Potter smiled. "Perhaps we'll see just how prodigious you are, first."

There was a blinding flash, and the light faded to show Potter and Black lying on the ground on either side of the Greenhouse, evidently having flown away and impacted the wall there. At the same time, Severus realized he could move again. He scrambled to his feet and turned to find his wand.

"Here."

Sephiroth handed his wand over to him, his face as calm as always. He held his own wand loosely in his left hand. After a moment's deliberation, he lifted it, pointed it towards the still dazed duo of the Marauders, and flicked it twice. Potter and Black's joints locked together and they fell forward, rigid as boards.

A pin-drop silence had fallen over the crowd. Now, the Slytherins erupted into applause. Sephiroth did not acknowledge them. He turned and walked into the Greenhouse. After a moment of stunned silence, Severus followed. He wanted to curse Potter and Black, but one warning look from Sephiroth changed his mind.

"Why…?" he said, still feeling the stiffness in his joints.

"They were blocking the way to the classroom," said Sephiroth, shrugging one shoulder. "It'll wear off - best not to try anything."

And indeed, he could hear the scrambling outside the Greenhouse. A moment later, Potter and Black burst in, both red in the face.

"Crescent," snarled Potter. "Up for a midnight duel?"

Up until now, there had been sniggerings. They now died away.

Sephiroth raised one eyebrow, looking mildly interested. "Why not try it in the Dueling Club? I'm joining. Aren't you?"

"Oh, we will," said Black. "We'll talk to Flitwick about setting up a match."

Sephiroth smirked. "See you there."

With what could only be described as a growl, Black and Potter stormed out.

There was, once again, a smattering of applause. Sephiroth ignored it. "Your book," he said, handing it back to Severus.

"Thanks," said Severus, and while his pride wouldn't let him acknowledge that it was not just his book he was expressing gratitude for, Sephiroth's eyes softened, and he nodded in acknowledgment of what had gone unspoken.

* * *

**Thoughts? Criticisms?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

News of what had happened to the Marauders spread through the school within the week. The popularity of James Potter and Sirius Black went down a few notches, much to Severus' glee. A few girls even shifted from ogling Potter and Black to ogling Sephiroth. But that was how these girls always acted. Thank God Lily wasn't like that.

Speaking of whom, Lily was jubilant when she heard what happened.

"Serves them right," she said. "Finally someone from your house is standing up to them. That will teach them to hex people without reason!"

She was less enthusiastic about the offer to duel.

"Crescent might win, sure," she said, "But he might lose, too, right? Even you have to admit Potter's skilled."

"Sephiroth casts non-verbally," said Severus. "It's a sign of skill, and an advantage often overlooked. I don't think he'll lose."

"I hope you're right," said Lily. "Potter needs to be taken down a few notches. Oh, there he is!"

It was not Potter Lily was referring to, but Sephiroth. He was walking down the corridor rather purposefully. On seeing Severus, he gave a nod as he walked past.

"Where's he going?" Lily wondered, as she had good reason to, because this corridor was the one leading to the Fat Lady's portrait - the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Severus knew of it because he had often met Lily here.

In answer to Lily's question, the portrait swung open and Aerith walked out.

"Oh," said Lily.

"Hi, Lily!" Aerith chirped. "Have you met my brother? Sephiroth, this is Lily Evans, one of our Prefects."

"Hello," said Lily. Sephiroth only nodded at her. "Thank you for what you did for Sev."

Severus flushed to the roots of his hair. She was talking about him like he was not here! What, did she think him incapable of speech? And to make it worse, she was thanking Sephiroth when the other clearly said that he attacked Potter and Black because they were blocking his way, not because he had wanted to help Severus!

_Sure, just ignore that it sounded suspiciously like he'd been lying to save your pathetic pride,_ said a voice in his head.

"I did nothing for Severus," Sephiroth said dismissively. Severus relaxed marginally.

Lily blinked. "But-"

"You may have heard an altered version of the story. Potter and Black were blocking the classroom. I merely removed them."

Aerith giggled behind her hand. Lily blinked again.

"Well," she said, "I'm glad you stood up to them, then. They are nuisances."

"I've noticed," Sephiroth said dryly. "Who is the other Gryffindor prefect?"

Lily sighed. "It's Remus Lupin," she said. "They're good friends. He can't go against them."

"Hmph. Then I wonder if it's not the prefect who needs to be removed."

"Oh no, Remus is a good prefect. He's just… biased."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. Lily made a face.

"I guess it's a matter of options," she said. "He was the best option."

"Isn't the current Duelling Champion in your house?" Sephiroth said mildly.

Lily groaned. "He… doesn't have a good record when it comes to upholding the rules," she said.

"And Lupin does?"

"Officially, yes."

"I see. Take care." With another nod, he left them alone, Aerith on his heels.

Lily turned back to Severus. "You trying out for the Dueling Club this year?"

"Yes," said Severus. "You?"

"Me too," she said. "The groups in the first stage will still be random. I asked professor Flitwick. I don't think it's very fair for the second and third years, but professor Flitwick says it'll be good practice. These are bad times, he says, and your opponent may not always be equal to your strength."

On the words 'bad times', a chill went through Severus that had very little to do with fear. He knew what the professor had been talking about, or rather, who. Everyone knew. It was difficult not to when the papers were reporting his doings, the killing and torture, every week.

Severus didn't see it exactly in the same light. You-Know-Who was killing Muggles and Muggle sympathizers, not wizards loyal to wizardkind. And he had seen firsthand what Muggles did to wizards out of spite. Why shouldn't they turn the tables on them? Wizards were more powerful and deserved better than Muggles did. And moreover, You-Know-Who was a Slytherin - the only noteworthy powerful Slytherin in the past few decades. He wouldn't discriminate against Slytherin the way the rest of the wizardring world did. Lucius Malfoy, before he had graduated, had always spoken well of You-Know-Who, and Lucius could be trusted. He had always supported Severus in many ways.

It was not that Severus was thinking of picking a side, exactly. He just wouldn't mind if You-Know-Who won. That was all, really.

He mentioned none of this to Lily. "The knockout rounds will still be difficult for everyone," he said.

"Maybe," said Lily.

* * *

To join the Dueling tournament, one first had to attend a tryout round in which students, according to their year, were given one difficult spell to perform on a dummy. Only the first 32 to cast the spells successfully advanced to the next round. These 32 would fight it out for the crown, with, at first, a group stage consisting of eight groups. After that, two from each group would progress to the knockout stages. They were called the Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final. Lily said it was like the FIFA world cup. Severus had only a vague idea of what that was, so he didn't try to discuss it.

Sephiroth went to talk to Potter and Black before their Charms class on Friday. He came back looking a little annoyed.

"Professor Flitwick said that he would not group me, Potter and Black together only because that's what we wanted," he informed Severus. "So they plan to rig the draw. They didn't say as much, of course, but it was obvious."

"Of course they do," growled Severus.

During their class, Sephiroth proved himself to be as adept at Charms as he was at Transfiguration and DADA, which was very. He gained twenty points from Flitwick for successfully casting the Summoning Charm wordlessly.

"Show off," Severus mumbled, annoyed. Sephiroth only smirked in response.

So far, Severus had not found him ever speaking the incantations out loud. If this was some sort of self-imposed challenge, it was a very effective one. He knew that Hewley and Rhapsodos also cast non-verbally, gaining them a very significant advantage in duelling.

With the weekend came the tryouts for dueling tournament. In fifth year, Rhapsodos, Potter, Black, Lupin, Lily, Severus, Sephiroth and Hewley made the cut.

The draws for the group stage took place on the next day. Group A came as a surprise to even Flitwick, but not to Severus. At least, not the first three names.

"Adele Greene!" Flitwick called. Greene was a sixth year Ravenclaw. "James Potter! Sephiroth Crescent! And… Genesis Rhapsodos!"

Dead silence reigned in the hall for a moment. Then the hall erupted into cheers.

"Seriously?" Black mouthed, looking thunderstruck. "Bloody _seriously_?"

Sephiroth smirked. "I'm assuming Rhapsodos wasn't part of your rigging."

Black gave him a very dark look.

The rest of the groups were downright mild, by comparison. Lily found herself in a group with a second year, a fourth year and a sixth year. Severus, however, found himself in group H: with a sixth year, a third year, and Sirius Black.

Black grinned ferally at him. "Can't say I'm very upset about my rigging not working fully," he said. "Ready to have that nose smashed inside your face, Snivellus?"

Severus clenched his fist. "You wait, Black," he said, "I'll destroy you."

Black only smirked in reply.

"Hey, Crescent," Potter said as they got out of the Hall. "How does it feel, knowing you won't make the knockouts?"

Sephiroth smiled. "You should pray I don't," he said. "Because if I do, you won't."

"You hear that, Sirius? Sounds like a challenge to me," grinned Potter.

"You're in for a nasty surprise, Crescent," Black said, shrugging. "Tournament starts this weekend, right? James is in first group, so you won't have to wait long."

"So arrogant," Sephiroth said mildly. "Overconfidence will destroy you."

Potter chortled. "You sound like Hewley," he said. "We'll see, won't we? Come on, Remus!"

Severus stared after them, letting out a snicker. "That didn't sound forced at all.

"They're desperate," Sephiroth said calmly. Then he chuckled. "Why are we even talking about them? Come on, let's go."

* * *

In the following week, the tension between Gryffindor vs Slytherin escalated rapidly in preparation of Group A's first match on the weekend: Potter vs Crescent. Potter and his gang made another attempt on Severus, but they didn't quite catch him off guard thanks to the fact that Mulciber and Avery were both with him. Thanks to it being three on three(Lupin didn't take part), Severus got in a few good hits, and if the Marauders hadn't retreated when they did, Potter might not have been in a condition to duel.

The duels only took place on weekends so that the entire student body could watch. On the evening of the match, a few Gryffindor supporters of the Marauders tried to incapacitate Sephiroth by sending him Bubotuber's pus in the mail. Sephiroth opened it from afar using his wand, and then deposited it in the common room fire without a second thought.

"I don't get mails," he said to Severus when he asked him why he was so cautious.

Severus could relate - he didn't get mails, either. This only cemented his belief that there was something very strange going on in Sephiroth's home. Was he neglected because he was adopted, Severus wondered, and then decided it was none of his business.

After dinner, the majority of the Gryffindor and Slytherin table stayed behind as the tables were swept away to make room for the dueling. Sephiroth and Potter made their way to the middle.

"Scared, Crescent? With Snivellus not here to distract me? You look a little out of it." Potter said with a teasing smile.

"That's because I'm bored enough for my mind to begin wandering," Sephiroth said evenly.

On Flitwick's instruction, they nodded their heads at each other before taking up their positions.

"Wands at the ready!" called Flitwick. "Begin in three, two, one…"

Almost before he had finished, Potter shouted, "Stupify!"

There was a flash as Sephiroth's shield appeared right on time. The spell bounced off of it and went towards the boundary, where it disappeared.

"Impedimenta! Stupify! Petrificus Totalus!" All blocked. Potter frowned, and cast something non-verbally. He didn't appear to be ready when the spell ricocheted back at him, and only his quick Quidditch reflexes saved him from whatever it was the spell was meant to do.

Sephiroth waited with his wand in hand as Potter got back to his feet. He was flushed from either exertion or frustration.

"What are you waiting for?" he snarled. "Fight back!"

"Certainly," said Sephiroth, blocking Potter's next curse with such force that the resulting energy blasted his opponent off his feet. As Potter scrambled to his feet, Sephiroth flicked his wand, and Potter's wand _broke in two._

Potter stared in disbelief at his own wand as the hall erupted into cheers. Flitwick made his way down to the stage, looking mildly disapproving.

"The clear winner, Sephiroth Crescent!" he announced. "Although the manner of winning was quite unorthodox, I must say it was effective. We didn't specifically say that the weapon cannot be targeted, but nonetheless, Mr. Crescent, you cannot go around breaking wands. They cost to replace, you know. Intentionally breaking another wand will get you disqualified."

"Yes, professor," Sephiroth said calmly.

Potter was glaring at him with vehemence. Severus had never seen him lose his cool like that.

"Tell your friend," Black hissed near Severus' ear, "That he is going to pay for that."

"My friend, the fates are cruel."

Severus turned, as did Black. Rhapsodos stood nearby, hands in his pockets.

Genesis Rhapsodos, the only other male Gryffindor in fifth year aside from the Marauders, was a tall redhead. He had an obsession for poetry, or more accurately, one poetry book in general - LOVELESS. Aside from this, his interest lay only in spellcasting. Severus had a sneaking suspicion that Rhapsodos had invented spells of his own. In last year's duel, there had been one spell he had used that Severus had never seen anyone else use.

Unlike nearly all of the students of Hogwarts, Rhapsodos had no interest in Quidditch. He didn't even watch Quidditch matches. There was little outside of spells or LOVELESS that could hold his interest. Right now, he looked positively _gleeful._

"There are no dreams, no honour remains," he said. Severus had little doubt that it was LOVELESS he was quoting from.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Black snarled.

"Crescent won fair and square," said Rhapsodos. "I do not see why you would refuse to acknowledge that. Good evening, Crescent."

Sephiroth, on his way out, paused. "Hello," he answered quietly.

"You are certainly an worthy adversary," Rhapsodos told him. "I look forward to the match."

Sephiroth studied him for a moment. Rhapsodos smiled, before holding out his hand. Sephiroth clasped it.

"I as well," he said, in reference to the earlier statement. Rhapsodos gave his hand a firm shake before turning and walking away.

Sephiroth stared after him. "I could swear I've seen him before," he murmured.

"In the classroom?" Severus said dryly. Sephiroth didn't share in his humour.

"Before. But where?" he whispered to himself, thoughtfully. Then he shook his head, as if to get rid of the thoughts. "Let's go," he said.

* * *

**Let me know your thoughts!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thanks for reviewing. Regulus is in this story, as a fourth year and as Slytherin's Seeker, but I'm not sure how big of a role he'll get.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

At the end of September, Mulciber brought a news.

"Lucius joined!" he whispered, literally shaking with excitement.

Severus leaned forward in his seat, suddenly breathless. "The Dark Lord let him join? He's only nineteen!"

"He's only on the outermost circle, I reckon," said Avery. "No heavy stuff."

"It's still amazing," said Severus.

"Think he'll put in a good word for us?" Mulciber said hopefully.

"You want to join?" Severus sat up straight.

"Why not?" said Avery. "He's going to win the war. Does anyone in here doubt that?"

Neither Severus nor Mulciber said anything. It seemed to Severus as if the very air was literally thrumming with nervous energy.

"But..." Mulciber stammered, and then closed his eyes to gather himself. "He might win even before we finish schooling, right?"

"Not really," said Avery. "There's Dumbledore," he spat out the name, "to consider. He's not going down so easily."

"Did," Severus lowered his voice, "Did the Dark Lord speak of recruiting students?"

"I don't know," said Mulciber.

"But we have to pick a side now," Avery's face was aglow.

"Not if he doesn't recruit now," said Severus.

"Go on, Severus," Avery hissed, "You can't stay on the ropes forever. Are you really choosing that mudblood over the Dark Lord?"

"Why do I have to choose?" Severus exclaimed. "I mean - I - don't call her that!"

"The Dark Lord might even let you keep her," said Mulciber. "What's only one mudblood? If you ask him right…"

"We still have time, right?" Severus said, his mouth dry.

"The Marauders won't touch you if they know you follow the Dark Lord!" Mulciber said gleefully, as if Severus had not spoken. "They'll be scared of you, like they should be!"

That idea had an incredible appeal to it. The Dark Lord was powerful, no denying that. Severus could almost see himself, standing over the fallen Marauders, his wand aloft as the crowd cheered for him like they did for Sephiroth. He could see Lily looking at him in awe and admiration. If he rose high enough in the rankings, if he spoke of Lily to the Dark Lord, if he asked him to spare her, maybe she would be safe. That idea certainly had a better chance of saving her than staying neutral in this war, because…

"The Dark Lord is going to win anyway," sneered Avery. "You might as well appeal to him for Evans. You're not powerful, Severus. She won't look at you twice like you are now."

"Of course she will," said Severus, indignant. "I'm her friend!"

"But not her boyfriend," Mulciber piped up, and he and Avery both cackled.

_Stupid Avery and Mulciber. _However, Lily truly didn't see him as a potential suitor, and that was troublesome.

"I'll think about it," said Severus, finally.

"Don't take too long," Avery warned him. "Mulciber and I won't wait a second longer than we've got to."

* * *

Ruminating on their conversation, and the possible consequences, meant that Severus stayed up nearly through the entire night. He was bleary-eyed when he got down to breakfast. It was the weekend again, the morning of Group G's first match: Angeal Hewley vs Bertha Jorkins, a seventh year with literally no brains.

Something was wrong, he realized. Sephiroth was receiving hateful glances from both Mulciber and Avery. Mulciber had a bruise on his jaw the size of a berry. As he sat down, Avery slid over to him.

"Finally up, sleepy-head?" he sneered.

"What's going on?" Severus said thickly.

"Your friend cursed us," Avery hissed.

Severus blinked. "What?" Automatically, he glanced at Sephiroth. He was focused on his own breakfast, not looking anywhere else.

"We wanted to teach MacDonald a lesson," said Mulciber, speaking in a low tone. "Crescent got in the way. The only good thing about this - Avery reported him. He's got detention for fighting in the corridors. But Evans tattled on us, so we've got detention, too."

Mary MacDonald was a fifth year Gryffindor, one of Lily's closest friends. She was one of Severus' critics, the ones to whom Lily had to keep defending Severus. He wouldn't have minded her getting roughed up a bit, but he could see why Lily would be upset.

"And we lost points," Avery growled. "Thirty points. Ten each."

That was decidedly worse. Slytherin was already behind Gryffindor on the House standings. Severus frowned as he thought about whether to speak to Sephiroth about this or not. But the choice was taken out of his hands when Lily came over to them as soon as breakfast officially ended, MacDonald in tow.

"Hi, Sev," she said. "Sephiroth, Mary has something she wants to say to you. Go on, Mary."

"Thank you," said MacDonald, red from her neckline to her hairline, eyes averted. Severus watched her with bewilderment. What was wrong with her? Was she so conceited that a simple act of gratitude was embarrassing to her?

Sephiroth arched an eyebrow. "You're welcome," he said. "Anything else?" he directed the next part to Lily, who gave an exasperated smile to MacDonald.

"No," she said. "Thanks, Sephiroth. See you in class."

Sephiroth inclined his head in response, and Severus watched them depart.

"Why did you help her?"

Sephiroth blinked. "Problem?" he said mildly.

"She's a Gryffindor," Severus said.

"So is my sister."

"She's a…" Severus trailed off.

Sephiroth's eyes darkened, and Severus suddenly had an idea of why MacDonald had been so shy around him. Sephiroth could be _intimidating._

"A muggle-born?_" _he said icily.

"No!" Severus exclaimed, even though that was exactly what he had been about to say. "She never says one good word about Slytherins," he said instead. "She's one of those haughty Gryffindors."

"Then this incident might change her mind," Sephiroth said, shrugging.

Something clicked into place for Severus. "And now she's got a… a… a crush on you!" he accused. "That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

Sephiroth smirked. "That was unintentional, I assure you."

"Your housemates got detention because of you!"

"I could say the same of them."

"We lost points!"

"An unfortunate consequence."

"Don't you feel even a little guilty?"

"No."

Severus opened his mouth and closed it again. "Who do you have detention with?" he asked instead, deflating.

"McGonagall," said Sephiroth. "Do you have any other accusation you'd like to throw at me? Because if not, I have a rendezvous with my sister."

There was an undercurrent of something like disappointment in his tone. Severus flushed. Well, the disappointment went both ways! He now realized that he had been somewhat looking up to Sephiroth, despite being of the same age. But any Slytherins not loyal to their own House was not worth following.

Sephiroth was watching him silently. When Severus barked a gruff 'Go on, then', he strode off.

Severus, after a moment of contemplation, set out for the courtyard. Perhaps he could work on his spells. He had been developing a new one that stuck one's tongue to the roof of one's mouth. It would be a handy spell to use against Potter and Black - perhaps even Pettigrew.

He found Lily and MacDonald there. Because MacDonald was with her, he did not approach. Instead, he found the tree he liked to sit under and settled himself there, opening his book as he did so.

He was halfway through the margins of the page he was scribbling in when he heard running footsteps. Turning, his eyes widened as he saw Aerith running at him full-tilt.

"Lily! Severus!" she gasped between breaths. "Sephiroth! Some people attacked him!"

"Where?" Lily demanded, pulling out her wand.

"Corridor on the first floor!" Aerith had doubled over from the exertion. "I… didn't know… where the professors' office were-" she wheezed. "He told me to run. You've got to help him!"

"Mary," said Lily, "Get Professor McGonagall. Her office's closest. Show the way, Aerith!"

Severus snapped his book shut and stood, his wand already in hand. They ran after Aerith.

They could hear the chants of incantation a corridor away. Lily put a hand on Aerith's shoulder. "You stay back."

Aerith brandished her wand. "No," she said, looking determined. "I know Expelliarmus. Sephiroth taught me. And I can dodge."

"You shouldn't-"

Severus left them to their arguing and turned the corner. He let out a gasp, and then wondered why he was surprised.

Sephiroth stood in the middle of the corridor, furiously deflecting spell after spell, twisting back and forth. The attackers were - surprise, surprise! Potter, Black and Pettigrew. They were spread out on three different sides.

Sephiroth cast something that knocked Pettigrew off his feet, but before he could take advantage, he had to turn around and put up a shield to deflect Black's stunner. Severus pointed his wand at Pettigrew and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Pettigrew keeled over. Suddenly, with Black and Potter on north and east, Sephiroth had room to attack. He deflected a spell from Potter before turning his wand on Black, stunning him swiftly, and then it was one vs one.

Sephiroth smiled, a feral sight. "I have a present for you, James," he said softly. "Shall I give you despair?"

Potter paled, but stood his ground, looking determined. "You wouldn't have stood a chance if not for Snivellus," he said. Severus, much as he liked to believe so, knew otherwise… professor McGonagall was on her way, and she would have stopped this fight. Sephiroth, if he had lasted this long, would have held them off for another couple of minutes.

Sephiroth flicked his wand twice, and though Potter dodged the first, he couldn't dodge the second. His new wand flew out of his hand and soared into Sephiroth's. Potter stood there, wandless, heaving for breath. He didn't run.

"Let me," said Severus, smiling as he advanced.

Sephiroth stepped between them, still facing Potter. "Should I, James?" he said.

"Go ahead," Potter said defiantly.

"Hmm," Sephiroth turned to Severus. "Which curse would you use on him first, I wonder?" he said. "He knows advanced Dark Curses, did you know that, James?"

Severus lifted his wand. James tensed.

"Severus," Sephiroth said quietly, "Don't."

"What?" said Severus, bewildered. "Step aside, Sephiroth!"

Instead, Sephiroth stepped forward, looming over Potter. "I want you to remember this moment every time you so much as think of cursing Severus or me," he said. "I want you to remember we chose not to hurt you when we could have done anything we want to you, at a time when you attacked me three against one, from three sides, when I was unaware of any danger. Think of that, and then decide if you want to repay that by trying to attack us again. _Finite_."

It was the first time he had cast a spell verbally. Black and Pettigrew sat up, both looking bewildered. "What are you playing at?" Black spat at Sephiroth.

"Go," Sephiroth said without looking at them. "I heard so much about Gryffindor honour before I came here. I look forward to seeing how you reflect that honour."

At that moment, Professor McGonagall turned the corner, Mary MacDonald in tow. She turned white in the face when she saw the amount of destruction in the corridor.

"Explain yourselves!" she snapped, turning to Severus, of all people, who glared at her.

"Me? I didn't-"

"I attacked Crescent, professor," Potter said quietly. "Sni- Snape was trying to help him."

McGonagall stared at him. "Why would you do that?" she exclaimed.

"He broke my wand," said Potter. "I wanted to have revenge."

"And these two gentlemen were helping, is that it?" McGonagall said coldly, referring to Black and Pettigrew.

"No," said Potter.

"Yes," said Black, defiantly.

"I see," said McGonagall. "Twenty points each will be taken from Gryffindor."

Potter drew in a sharp breath, but said nothing.

"Professor Dumbledore will hear of this," said McGonagall, not even looking at them. "Potter, Black, Pettigrew, you will report to my office at 7 for detention. Crescent, your detention is postponed until further notice. Go see Madam Pomfrey for a Strengthening Solution - you don't look very healthy. You may all go."

Potter, Black and Pettigrew left immediately. Severus fell into step beside Sephiroth. He was, to be absolutely honest, furious.

"Why did you stop me?" he hissed. "This was the perfect opportunity!"

"I think we disagree on what that opportunity was," said Sephiroth.

"I helped you! I deserved to have a shot at them!"

"Yes, and I'm grateful for that," Sephiroth acknowledged. "But if you had cast a dark curse and professor McGonagall had seen that, how do you think this would have - hello, Aerith. You're alright?"

They had turned the corner, and found that the reason Lily could not come was because she was restraining a too-eager-to-duel Aerith. On seeing them, she let go of Aerith, who practically threw herself at Sephiroth. Sephiroth bent and caught her.

"I was so worried!" she exclaimed.

"Nothing happened, Aerith. I'm fine."

It was the first time Severus had heard Sephiroth speak to Aerith. His voice had dropped several octaves. He looked every inch the older brother as he stroked Aerith's hair.

"Come on," Lily said, tugging at Severus' sleeve. "We'd better go."

"Thank you for looking after her, Evans," Sephiroth told her. Lily smiled.

"Anytime," she said.

* * *

**Leave a review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Lily Evans entered the common room to find Genesis, as usual, sitting in his favorite armchair reading LOVELESS. Mary was close to the fire, her cat on her lap. She was stroking him, but as Lily entered, she jumped to her feet and the cat fell to the floor. He skulked away with his tail high in the air.

"Is Crescent alright?"

Lily smiled at her. "He's fine. Aerith's with him."

Mary smiled back, looking relieved. "I always thought Aerith's brother would be moody," she said. "Because, you know, Slytherin. But he's nice!"

After she said that, she stole a quick glance at Genesis. Lily suppressed a groan. She supposed Genesis was rather handsome, but Mary's crush on him was borderline obsessive. And it was not just Mary; nearly all of the girls in her dormitory fancied Genesis now. It would have been been alright if it weren't for the fact that none of them had paid much attention to him until last year's dueling tournament. Before that, it had all been 'James this, Sirius that'. And now, Mary seemed to be shifting her crush to Sephiroth instead.

"He only spoke one sentence to you," said Lily. "And really, Mary, that Slytherin thing again?"

"Well," she frowned. "I guess it can't be all that bad if Crescent's in it."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You've done your Charms work?"

"About that," Mary beamed. "I've finished it, but I'd like for you to go over it once."

Lily was not the best in her class at Charms - not even the best in her House, that honour belonged to Genesis - but she was considered the best among the girls in her year. As a result, some of the girls and even Remus sometimes enlisted her help to look over their work. She didn't mind; she had asked the same of Remus many times for DADA.

She took a seat beside Mary and pulled her friend's parchments towards her, beginning to read.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mary try to strike up a conversation with Genesis, who didn't seem to appreciate the interruption to his LOVELESS reading. Lily didn't know why he had to read it; she had proof that Genesis had the whole thing memorized.

Footsteps on the stairs made her look up. Potter and his gang - or Marauders, as they liked to call themselves - Lily liked to call them the toerag team - entered the common room. Potter was uncharacteristically quiet. Black on the other hand, was raging.

"I know Slytherins, Prongs!" he was saying. "He's got some ulterior agenda, and you're falling right into his trap!"

"You'd better not be talking about Crescent," Lily snapped.

Black faced her, frowning. "Why's that, Evans? You got a crush?"

"I'll have you know," Lily said coolly, "That he helped Mary out against some Slytherins this morning. I hope you didn't know that, because if you did… well, I'd be wrong in thinking I can't possibly think any less of you. You ambushed him when he was with his little sister! Can you go any lower than that?"

"We let her run away, though," Pettigrew piped up.

"Oh, well done," Lily said with heavy sarcasm. "Would you like an Order of Merlin for that?"

"Listen, Evans," Black snapped. "You're not seeing the full picture here. Crescent's a threat. He hangs out with Snivellus! You're blind if you don't see that Snivellus is heading straight for the Death Eaters."

"You think your little bullying incidents are helping?" Lily fired back. "You think you're so high and mighty, with your little 'battles against Death Eaters', but all you're doing is making it worse."

"How about this?" said Potter, calmly. "We won't target them for a while, and then you tell me if they're heading straight to Voldemort or not."

Lily frowned. Since when was Potter the voice of reason?

"It's a start," she said.

On the other side of the common room, Genesis had finally gotten rid of Mary. As she came back over, Lily handed back her homework. "It's fine," she said. "Just a little correction: you're supposed to wave your wand left to right for the Banishing Charm, not right to left."

"Thanks, Lily," she said, bending over her papers to correct it. "By the way, who's dueling tonight?"

Lily pulled the schedule out of her pocket. "Angeal vs Bertha, first," she said.

"That's a stomp," Mary said, grinning. Lily nodded, glancing at her watch.

"It's almost time," she said. Genesis set aside his book and got to his feet. The three of them exited together.

"Who's your opponent next weekend?" Lily asked Genesis, just to be polite. Everyone knew who his next opponent was: Sephiroth. Genesis had effortlessly defeated Greene in his first match, meaning Sephiroth and Genesis were tied for points at the top of Group A. The other match tonight was Lupin vs Nott, a fourth year Slytherin. Four group matches were held every weekend, which meant that one of Lily's most anticipated match, Black vs Severus, would take place tomorrow night. She hoped with all her heart that Severus would win, but Black was very skilled, so there was no telling what would happen.

"Crescent," said Genesis. "The wind sails over the water's surface, quietly, but surely."

Lily made a face. "LOVELESS again? You really ought to give it a rest every now and then."

"Why should I?" Genesis said calmly. "It can be applied to all situations."

And this, was why Genesis was still single even though girls flocked to him. No one could figure out how to hold a meaningful conversation with Genesis without him quoting LOVELESS at them. Quite frankly, everyone was a little sick of it.

Dinner had already started in the Great Hall. There was a surprise waiting for them at the Gryffindor table - Angeal Hewley sat where Genesis usually did, stuffing food into his mouth at a rapid rate.

Angeal Hewley was a well-built, dark-haired boy. He had always been friendly towards Lily, if not an actual friend. Hewley was incredibly popular in his House, Hufflepuff, as far as Lily knew. He was friendly to everyone, knew what to say to young students and NEWT students alike in all situations, and on top of that, was a prefect with a spotless record when it came to abiding by the rules.

On seeing them, he gave a nod to Lily before turning to Genesis.

"My housemates are being a little too friendly," he said, grimacing. "Do you mind?"

"There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the goddess," Genesis said, sweeping an arm theatrically. "Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds."

Angeal chuckled softly, shaking his head. "I'll be out of your hair soon," he said to Lily. "Just give me a moment, I'm almost done."

"Take as long as you need," said Lily, smiling. "It's not my seat you're in." She and Genesis sat on Angeal's opposite side.

"Congratulations on your win, by the way," he said, returning the smile.

"She was a second year," Lily said, wincing. "Thank you, but I don't think I deserve too much credit."

"You could have lost if you had underestimated her," Angeal said seriously. "I've observed her technique. She was very fast for her age."

This was why Angeal was so popular - he could make everyone feel good about themselves. A conversation with Angeal Hewley would never fail to boost your morals when you were feeling low. He would make an amazing professor, Lily had found herself thinking many times.

"That's true," she acknowledged. "She has potential."

Angeal set down his cutlery and made to get up. Lily shook her head at him. "Dinner's almost finished, anyway," she said. "If you don't feel like being smothered by your Housemates just yet-"

"My friend, do you fly away now?" Genesis said snidely.

Lily groaned as Angeal's face shifted into determination. "Watch me," he said, and strode away towards his table.

"Really, Genesis?" she said.

Genesis only claimed his cutlery with a satisfied air and a little smile on his lips. Sometimes Lily thought Genesis got under people's skins just for the fun of it. Shaking her head, she focused on her own dinner.

* * *

Afterwards, the tables were pushed back again, and Angeal and Bertha Jorkins made their way to the middle of the empty circle. Flitwick cast the protective barrier. On his signal, Angeal bowed regally, making Bertha giggle as she bowed back.

"Wands at the ready!" said Flitwick. "Begin in three, two, one-"

In her excitement, Bertha cast her spell before Flitwick had finished countdown. Angeal didn't put up a shield, possibly because _he _didn't want to start before he was given permission to, and sidestepped instead. A yellow light streaked out of the end of his wand as soon as Flitwick had finished countdown. Bertha put up a hasty shield and the spell bounced off. She countered with a "Expelliarmus!" that Angeal blocked. He cast two spells in quick succession, and Bertha's shield trembled before shattering. She stumbled and fell on her backside from the resulting backlash, eyes wide. Angeal waited for her to get up, his wand held firmly in one hand. As soon as she got to her feet, Angeal sent her wand spinning away with one non-verbal Expelliarmus.

"The winner, Angeal Hewley!" Flitwick announced, to much applause.

"Hero of the dawn indeed," Genesis said softly.

"That's a bit much, Genesis," said Lily.

"He could have cast her wand aside when she was on the floor," Genesis countered. "He gave her the opportunity to retaliate, instead; preferring to fight her when she could fight back."

That was true, but Lily had come to expect no less of Angeal Hewley. "I see," she said anyway, not wanting to hear another LOVELESS recitation. "Good luck, Remus!" she said to Lupin as he made his way down.

"Thanks, Lily!" he called back.

"Really, Lily?"

She turned to see Severus at her side, looking annoyed.

"What?" she said.

"Why are you wishing Lupin good luck?" Severus said harshly. Lily's eyebrows climbed.

"I don't see why that's any of your business," she said coolly. "Remus has not bothered you since the start of this year."

"And that excuses the other times?" Severus snapped.

"You're being ridiculous, Sev. He's changed since he became prefect - he wasn't even there when they attacked Sephiroth this morning!"

"I'm willing to bet he knew about it, though," said Severus hotly.

Irritated, Lily fired back, "And what about you?"

"What about me?" Severus scowled.

"Why are you still hanging around Avery and Mulciber? They're budding Death Eaters, that's what they are! At least Potter and his gang don't use Dark Magic!"

When Severus began sputtering, she pointed an accusing finger at him. "You don't even deny it!"

"You think Potter's better?" he snapped. "Or is this because Potter fancies you?"

Lily took a step forward, rage coursing through her. "Do you hate Potter because of what he's done, or because he fancies me?" she snarled.

Severus took a step back, looking like he'd been struck in the face. "I-I'm not-" he stammered, but Lily had had enough. She turned her back on him and walked away.

Dimly, she heard cheering and glanced back - Lupin had just won. She kept walking.

And nearly collided into Sephiroth, who gracefully side-stepped and grasped her shoulders to help her keep her balance.

"What's wrong?" he said softly, letting her go once she was steady.

"Severus being an idiot," she said.

Sephiroth chuckled. "He does that. Around you, more often than not. Give him time."

"That's all I've been doing!" Lily snapped. "He won't come around - keeps hanging around Mulciber and Avery - " Something suddenly occurred to her. "Do you know if he's aiming to be a death eater?"

Sephiroth shook his head.

"Well, I hope being around you does him some good," she said. "You're a better influence than Mulciber."

"Thanks for that," Sephiroth said dryly. "But I can never hope to influence him better than you can."

"What did I just tell you?" Lily stared at him. "He doesn't listen to me!"

"No more than he will listen to me," said Sephiroth. "I've known him for little over a month. Besides-" he trailed off, looking contemplative.

"What?"

"It's not my secret to tell," he said evenly. "Observe him, Lily. You will understand."

Lily opened her mouth to retort, but before she could, Genesis' voice interrupted her.

"Ripples form on the water's surface," he said. "The wandering soul knows no rest."

"Are we interrupting something?" Angeal said, his tone mild.

"No," Lily said firmly.

"Good," Genesis said promptly. "Angeal, this is Sephiroth Crescent. Crescent, Angeal Hewley."

They shook hands. "I've seen you duel," Angeal said. "That was very well done, but I must say, causing property damage is not very honourable."

"Hmph," said Sephiroth. Angeal changed tracks, frowning nonetheless.

"How are you finding England?" he asked politely.

"This is not my first time in England," said Sephiroth. "I was born here."

"Oh? Why did you shift to America?"

Sephiroth's face darkened. "Circumstances," he said simply.

That was one thing Sephiroth and Aerith had in common. At any mention of their past, they both clammed up like oysters.

Angeal looked sympathetic. "I see," he said, as if he really did. "Well, it was nice meeting you. Perhaps," he lowered his voice, "we could test our skills sometimes?"

Lily stared at him in disbelief. Since when was Angeal the advocate for breaking rules? But Sephiroth nodded immediately, a smile on his face.

"I think I'd like that," he said.

* * *

**Please leave a review!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thanks for commenting. I haven't figured out what to do with Regulus yet, but he should be playing a part. Let's see what happens! This is still a work in progress, you see.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm a little confused about something. If I move this story to HP archive instead of the HP crossover archive, is that breaking the rules of ffnet? If any of you know, please let me know!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Severus was ignoring Sephiroth.

This was no big news, but it seemed to mean a great deal to Avery and Mulciber, who believed Severus to be doing this because Sephiroth had gone against them. In truth it was nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the fact that Sephiroth had denied him his revenge for Potter and Black's four years of torment.

And for what? Nothing. Potter might lie low for a while, scared of damaging his moral high ground, but he would retaliate eventually, and it would be all the more dangerous because it would happen when they were no longer expecting it. Or at least, Sephiroth weren't. Severus would always be on his guard.

"Hey," Mulciber said, glee written all over his face, "Why don't we strike first? They wouldn't be expecting it after that stunt Crescent pulled."

The idea had some merit. However, Severus was reluctant to damage the prospect of the few day's of peace they might have gotten out of it. On the other hand, the Marauders had never been ones to shy away from revenge, so why shouldn't Severus do the same? He was many things; a coward was not one of them.

His lips curled at the mere thought, and suddenly his mind was made up. "After my duel with Black," he said decisively.

They were having breakfast in the morning of his match with Black. But before the match, there was something else: the first Quidditch match, Gryffindor vs Slytherin.

He could see Potter from his seat, ruffling his own hair as he stole surreptitious glances at Lily to see if she was looking. Lily, deep in conversation with Mary, did not seem to notice. Or she might have noticed and decided to ignore him. Severus hoped it was the latter.

The Slytherin captain was Evan Rosier, a seventh year Slytherin and one of Severus', if not friends, then very good acquaintances. He was muttering something urgently to their new Seeker, a fourth year named Regulus Black, brother of Sirius Black. Severus had not been very thrilled when he had been sorted, but Regulus proved to be nothing like his brother. He was thin, pale, dark-haired, with a sense of pure-blood pride. He did not actively go after Muggle-borns, but Severus had gathered from several conversations that he thought pure-blooded wizards ought to have more respect than the Muggle-borns.

He was currently the only representative at Hogwarts of the Noble House of Black who properly represented them, and as such, he was the pride and joy of his family, constantly a measuring stick for Sirius Black to look up to, who, clearly, couldn't care less.

He was also very well-mannered, never getting any detentions, or at least not that Severus knew of. He was a little pompous, but that was a thing among pure-blood Slytherins. He studied well, always staying near the top of his class if not at the top. As his eyes met Severus', he gave a little smile, not looking at all afraid of his first match. That was another thing that Severus had noticed - he seemed to have nerves of steel.

After breakfast, almost the entire school body made their way to the Quidditch field. Potter tried once more to attract Lily's attention by swaggering right past her, but she turned her back on him. Severus smiled automatically as he followed after Avery and Mulciber.

"Saved you three places," said Rupert Wilkes, a seventh year, as they finally reached the Slytherin audience. "Here," he said, holding up a pair of Omniculars. "Who wants this?"

Severus didn't, but Mulciber and Avery both did, so after a minute of arguing Wilkes finally handed it off to Severus. "You hold on to it," he said. "Give it back after match's over, got it?"

Severus nodded as he lifted it to his eyes. Potter and Regulus were both circling the field as other players took their positions. There was no denying that Potter was a prodigy when it came to flying, and that was definitely a problem. As far as he knew, Regulus was decent, but he had never seen him in action.

Madam Hooch blew the whistle, and the game began.

It was an incredibly messy game in which several Gryffindors and one Slytherin ended up injured. Despite all this, Potter managed to spot the snitch within the first fifteen minutes. Regulus took after him, but their brooms were both the latest models and, Severus admitted in his head, Potter was better than Regulus. Potter caught the snitch three minutes later, to groans of disappointment from the Slytherins.

Severus returned the Omniculars to Wilkes and thanked him. As he, Avery and Mulciber made their way back, talking about the game in annoyed tones, Hewley and Sephiroth emerged from one of the side doors of a corridor, Hewley talking, Sephiroth nodding. They were both flushed, and Severus had no idea why. As they walked past him, he saw that Hewley seemed to be limping slightly.

He narrowed his eyes. Had they been fighting someone? If so, who?

* * *

After dinner, it was Severus' turn to represent the Slytherins as he and Black made their way down. Flitwick ordered them to bow to each other. Neither of them did, so after a few tries, the Charms professor gave up.

"Lift your wands!" he said, as they took positions. "Three - two - "

Black struck. His spell hit Severus so hard that he spun once in the air before dropping to the floor, grimacing in pain. "Protego!" he shouted, to block the next spell, but there was no need - Flitwick had already cast his own shield.

"Outrageous, Mr. Black!" he shouted. "A penalty of negative two!"

The penalties were positive or negative numbers depending on how long it took to win or lose a match. As an example, Sephiroth was second in group A considering penalties, only because he had taken longer to win than Rhapsodos, and Potter was in third place because Greene had lost more swiftly.

Severus got to his feet as Flitwick lifted the shield. "Now," he said. "Three - two - one - begin!"

Severus struck first. He made a slashing movement in the air and a deep gash appeared on Black's left leg. Black hissed in pain but lifted his wand anyway, and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego!" Severus blocked the curse and cast Levicorpus non-verbally. Black jumped aside, and shouted out a stream of curses. Severus tried to block them all, but the last one hit him and his legs started jerking around aimlessly.

Laughter sounded. Face hot with humiliation, Severus snarled, "Finite! Rictasempra!"

Black hadn't expected him to recover so quickly - he was hit full in the face and started laughing uncontrollably. Between his gasps for breath among the laughter, he cast the leg-locker curse, and Severus fell to the floor. They both shouted, "Finite!" at the same time, and stood, eyeing each other with open hatred.

"Three minutes gone, boys!" said Flitwick.

If a match were not resolved in ten minutes in the group stage, it was considered to be a tie. Severus and Black both threw themselves into the fight with new purpose. Black hit Severus with a curse that caused boils to erupt on his exposed skin, namely his face and hands. Severus immediately tried to hit Black back with a Blasting Curse, but Black held up a shield. The resulting force, though, caused the shield to shatter. Severus advanced and shouted, "Confringo!"

Black was thrown backwards. He remained airborne for a short moment before crashing back down, hitting the floor face-first. There was a loud '_Crunch!_' sound, and when he lifted his head, Severus could see that he was bleeding profusely from his nose.

"Bombarda!" he shouted back. Severus, not anticipating an attack when Black was down, was knocked backwards. From the floor, he yelled, "Furnunculus!"

Black was immediately covered in large watery pimples, much like Severus, who sneered at him. "Not so pretty now, are you, Black?"

In response, Black threw the Conjunctivitis Curse. Severus blocked it even as he struggled back up and cast the Stunning Spell wordlessly.

Black blocked the curse, even though he had been caught off guard. "Locomotor Mortis!"

Severus' shield disappeared after it had absorbed the curse. Black shouted something, covered by the resulting noise of Severus' shield vanishing, and Severus suddenly couldn't see out of his left eye or hear out of his left ear… the left side of his face felt like it was on fire.

He saw Black's mouth move again, and to counter him before he could strike, cast Sectumsempra.

Black staggered back. The curse had opened a long, deep gash along his wand arm - his wand fell from limp fingers. Severus had won, but he didn't want to stop - this was his chance. His cast the Conjunctivitis Curse, grinning as Black's eye swelled up. He cast the tongue-tying curse, but before it could hit, a shield went up in front of him.

Suddenly, Severus could hear the commotion in the audience. Strangely, no one seemed to be applauding. Flitwick was shouting something.

"Stop!" he was saying. "Stop at once!"

Flitwick ran to the middle.

"That's enough!" he said. "Never - in all my years -"

He sounded angry as Severus had never heard him.

"Both of you, disqualified!"

"What?" Black and Severus shouted at once.

"You heard me! That is final!" Flitwick's moustache was quivering. "Go see Madam Pomfrey! Now!"

Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew ran to Black, checking him over. Severus backed away. From what he could see, Black was bleeding rather profusely.

He turned to go and was immediately confronted with the sight of Lily's furious face.

"What was that, Sev?" she demanded harshly.

"What?" said Severus, frowning.

"You kept attacking him when he was already down!" she said. "What kind of sadistic mentality is that? Why did you purposefully hurt him when he was disarmed?"

Indignant, Severus snapped, "He struck before I was ready! Didn't you see that?"

"So now you're saying it's okay to be just as bad as them? And you at least had your wand!"

Potter was glaring at Severus with the promise of imminent doom. Severus turned his back on all of them and made his way to the Hospital Wing alone, his boils stinging.

* * *

It was late at night when he returned. Madam Pomfrey had kept Black overnight, but he was allowed to go. Apparently his injuries were 'less severe'.

The common room was deserted except for Sephiroth, who was sitting near the fireplace with a book open in his hand. As Severus entered, he looked up briefly before going back to his reading.

Irritated with himself for hoping that Sephiroth was staying up for him, Severus walked to the staircase leading to the dormitory.

"This isn't helping."

Severus spun on his heels to look at Sephiroth, startled and annoyed at himself for it. "What?"

"Your little mishaps," said Sephiroth, not looking up from his book. "isn't helping your standing with Lily Evans."

Blood rushed to Severus' cheeks. "What do you know?" he snapped.

"She was very upset tonight," Sephiroth informed him nonchalantly.

"Well, maybe I don't care if a mudblood is upset with me or not!"

Sephiroth looked up sharply. He looked taken aback and… a little hurt?

Severus suddenly felt like the room was too small for him. What had he just said? Had he really just called Lily a…

The words seemed to echo in his head. Clutching at his ears, he turned and fled to his dormitory.

* * *

**Thoughts? Be it criticism or compliments, let me know!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thank you! Hope you like this chapter as well.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: More than one reviews in the last chapter is probably the sole reason for this chapter being uploaded as fast as it is. So, readers, review! They work as incredible incentive for writing.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

The next week passed in a state of almost panic for Severus as he tried to ascertain if Sephiroth had told Lily what he had said. Lily was in a huff and not talking to Severus; apparently putting Black in the hospital wing was a big no-no in her book. Severus wanted to remind her that he had been to the hospital wing as well, but that was difficult to do without speaking. What he was more worried about was if she was upset over the Mudblood incident as well - surely Sephiroth wouldn't tell on him? And even if he did, why would she believe him?

_She might,_ a voice in his head told him. _You saw the way she talks to him. There's respect there if nothing else._

Asking Sephiroth was another big no. He was ignoring Severus as thoroughly as Severus had been ignoring him. He couldn't understand why Sephiroth would be so upset by his use of the word 'Mudblood'. It was not as though he could be muggle-born, sorted into Slytherin as he was. No, that was ridiculous. It was more probable that Sephiroth was simply getting back at him for Severus's attitude towards him.

With the weekend came another two matches: Potter vs Greene, Sephiroth vs Rhapsodos.

As both he and Black were disqualified, the third year and the sixth year in their group had no more matches and would automatically qualify for the next round. Severus wondered sourly if the third year would not be the only one in his year to qualify for the knockouts. The disqualification had been too harsh, in his opinion - a sentiment Black shared, though only about his own punishment. He had even heard that, on the day after the duel, Lupin, Potter and Pettigrew had gone appealing to professor Flitwick to lift the punishment. That had ended up getting Potter and Pettigrew detentions - apparently their wording had been disrespectful. Severus had never known Flitwick to deal out detentions over something so mundane. It only proved how furious he was about the whole mess that had been Severus's duel against Black.

The Marauders still had not tried to do anything to him, much to his surprise. It only cemented his belief that they were planning something. He was starting to regret alienating Sephiroth - he was a valuable ally, far more useful in a fight than Avery and Mulciber could be.

Speaking of…

"Wait for it, Crescent!" Avery called down the table to Sephiroth, who gave no sign that he had heard him. "Rhapsodos's gonna destroy you tonight!"

"Rhapsodos is a Gryffindor," Wilkes said disapprovingly. "I dunno what beef you got against Crescent, but he's a Slytherin and you ought to support him. The rest of us will."

Avery frowned and fell silent. They were having dinner, only minutes away from the dueling match.

"Nice work on Black last week, by the way," Wilkes said to Severus, who smirked in response. "Didn't think I'd see the day when you put one of them in the hospital. Good payback."

"It felt good," Severus said viciously.

"They've been glaring bloody murder at you since then." Wilkes nodded towards the Gryffindor table. "I'd watch my back if I were you."

"He's got us!" Mulciber announced.

Wilkes seemed to conceal a wince, and Severus could swear he had heard a scoff that sounded suspiciously like Sephiroth.

Wilkes glanced around before lowering his voice. "You heard about Lucius?"

"Yes," said Severus, leaning forward in interest.

"Lucius told _him _about us. He's interested."

"Really?" Avery's voice rose an octave or two in his eagerness.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I reckon we'd be getting our _you-know-what_ before we're out of school. You up for it?"

Avery and Mulciber nodded eagerly. Severus felt his throat constrict.

"Does he…" he gulped. "Does he take only pure-bloods?"

Wilkes frowned. "Worried about your father being a Muggle, are you? "

Severus nodded.

"I reckon it won't be a problem," he said. "You've got brains, unlike certain people. He's gonna need that. Speaking of which, do you know if Crescent's interested?"

Severus bit his lip. "I don't think so," he answered. "And I don't know if it's safe to ask, anyway."

"Ask him about his views on Mudbloods or something," Wilkes pressed. "He'll be a good asset. He's got many people supporting him already - even some Gryffindor chicks." His lip curled. "_Looks _matter, and he's got the brains to back it up."

"We're not exactly on speaking terms," Severus admitted.

"Get back on speaking terms," Wilkes said gruffly. "And ask Regulus, or get one of these two to do it."

"We're right here," Mulciber said indignantly. Wilkes ignored him.

"You think Regulus will be interested?" Severus couldn't deny the prospect appealed to him - seeing the look on Black's face alone would be worth the trouble.

"His cousin's joined, didn't she?" said Wilkes. "She's high up already, last I heard - very high up. So's her husband."

Severus had doubts on whether Bellatrix and Regulus could be classified as the same. As far as he knew, Bellatrix was… not exactly right in the head. "What about Nott?"

"He's interested," Mulciber piped up. "I asked."

"How long do you think before…" Severus trailed off purposefully.

"Not long. He's a little short on manpower," Wilkes admitted. "Probably as soon as you lot turn seventeen. Might be quicker."

The popping sounds of dirty plates vanishing startled them out of their conversation - dinner had just ended. The teachers left their seat, apart from Flitwick and strangely, Dumbledore. The circle in the middle was created by a swish of Flitwick's wrist.

From two sides of the hall, Rhapsodos and Sephiroth made their way down, accompanied by roars from the Slytherin and Gryffindor audiences.

"The Headmaster is watching, boys!" Flitwick cautioned them. He looked very excited. "Let's give him a show!"

"Now, that was hardly necessary, Filius," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. "Please, don't feel obligated to prolong the duel on my account."

Rhapsodos and Sephiroth both smiled at that, but neither said anything. They hardly seemed fazed at the fact that they would duel in front of Dumbledore. Of course, Rhapsodos had already gone through this in last year's final, but Sephiroth hadn't, and out of the two, he was the one who looked more relaxed.

Rhapsodos bowed with a flourish. Sephiroth bowed no lower than was necessary. The two assumed positions, and Flitwick counted down from three before giving the order to begin.

Two spells streaked out of the end of both their wands before meeting the opposition's shields and dissipating. Rhapsodos cast the Blasting Curse to get rid of the shield before sending another curse, which was blocked as well. Sephiroth went on the offensive, dissolving his own barrier before going into a flurry of spells that came out of his wand like fireworks. Genesis was hard-pressed to block them all, but he somehow succeeded even as the force knocked him back a couple of steps.

Raising his own wand, he conjured fireballs out of the end before directing them straight at Sephiroth, who put up another shield. The fireballs slammed into it, one after the other, and for a moment Sephiroth was completely hidden behind it. But then, before the last of it had vanished, a blue jet of light emerged from the fire and knocked Rhapsodos to the floor.

The crowd roared, but Rhapsodos was up almost immediately. Sephiroth had finished off the last of the fireballs, and standing face to face a few feet from each other, the two shared a smile. Their eyes were almost glowing with exhilaration. They looked like they were having the time of their lives.

"Three minutes gone!" Flitwick announced.

Rhapsodos started the next attack. A red light streaked out of his wand that could only be the Stunning Spell, followed by two violet jets. Sephiroth side-stepped to avoid them before casting a Full Body Bind. Rhapsodos blocked it with a shield before pointing his wand at the ceiling. Small circular blocks of stone rained down, giving Sephiroth no choice but to cast a shield above his head.

Or so Severus thought.

Instead, Sephiroth made a sweeping motion with his wand, making the stones line up in a neat row before sending all of them at Rhapsodos with a jerk of his wand hand. Rhapsodos flicked his wand, and the stones were disintegrated all at once. Dust rained down, littering the arena floor.

The crowd was by now cheering so loudly that Flitwick's voice was almost drowned out as he shouted, "Well done! Four minutes!"

That was nearly half of the allocated time. Rhapsodos went on the offensive again, this time sending a jet of flame out of his wand. Sephiroth countered with water, dousing the flames on their way to hit Rhapsodos in the face, who was knocked off-balance as the force of the water jet almost knocked his wand out of his hand. Pulling his arm free somehow, he deflected the water to the side before freezing the water into large snowballs and sending them right back at Sephiroth, who reshaped them into long shards and redirected them. Rhapsodos vanished the lot.

Sephiroth started the next attack. He conjured a small whirling sphere of water before directing it at Rhapsodos's head, seemingly aiming to cut off his air supply. Rhapsodos flicked his wand and it turned into steam and faded into the air. Sephiroth tried with metal balls next, seemingly charmed to hit Rhapsodos as they bounced around him, looking for an opening among the shields he had surrounded himself with. Rhapsodos himself only left small enough opening to vanish the balls one by one while having to also dodge the spells Sephiroth sent towards him through those openings. By the time the balls were gone, there was only about two minutes left on the clock. Time for one last round.

Not surprisingly, it was Sephiroth who attacked - Rhapsodos was breathing heavily from his exertion. Sephiroth went with another flurry of attacks, his wand almost a blur. Rhapsodos cast shield after shield as they continued to disintegrate. With only a minute left, Sephiroth tried one last elemental attack - he conjured some form of a whirlwind that kept after Rhapsodos, trying to knock him off his feet. Rhapsodos took refuge behind a rather large shield, but it was trembling horribly, it was going to break any second -

"Ten minutes!" said Flitwick. The crowd groaned.

Sephiroth cancelled his spell and Rhapsodos dropped to one knee, looking exhausted. After a moment of consideration, Sephiroth walked forward and offered him a hand. Rhapsodos didn't take it, getting to his feet by himself, but he was wearing a little smile and the two exchanged a few words before making their way back among thunderous applause.

"Mervelous!" said Dumbledore as the two reached him, his eyes shining. "That was certainly no shortage of entertainment, and what is more, both of you seem properly entertained as well! Thirty points each to Gryffindor and Slytherin for producing the first draw of our duelling club!"

The roaring from the crowd intensified. Rhapsodos said something containing 'war of the beasts's and 'gift everlasting'. Whatever it was, it made Dumbledore's eyes twinkle even more.

"A little more time!" Severus turned to see that Aerith was standing a few feet from him, along with Lily Evans. Lily was nodding along.

"Sephiroth would have won!" Aerith was declaring with conviction.

"You know, I rather think so, too," said Lily, smiling so widely her cheeks had to be hurting.

_So do I, _Severus thought, surprised to find he was disappointed that Sephiroth was not given extra time. Now that he had thought about it, had he not been rooting for Sephiroth all along? He rather suspected he did. He had certainly not been supporting Rhapsodos.

Perhaps things between him and Sephiroth weren't as bad as he had thought.

* * *

**So... review?**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I find Severus extremely intriguing. His actions are understandable, but often not excusable, as they are many times just plain wrong. That said, I simply don't like the Marauders, especially James Potter and Sirius Black, in case you couldn't tell. I'm trying to give everyone reasons for what they're doing instead of simply vilifying them. I hope I'm doing them justice! And despite the fact that there's very little about Regulus in canon, I admire him for his brave sacrifice and his treatment of Kreature. But Potter's Quidditch skills are often talked about, while Regulus's aren't, so I had to let Potter win that one. Let me know what you think of this chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

It was Friday, the fifth of November, and the temperature was starting to drop. It wasn't quite snowing yet, but the wind was cold, and the Slytherin common room would have been freezing had it not been for all the charms Slughorn put on it to keep it warm. It was definitely more comfortable than the rest of the dungeons, at least. The giant squid could frequently be seen from the windows, having migrated to deeper waters.

Lily was still not talking to Severus, who didn't have the slightest clue how to go about solving this. It didn't help that he was feeling angry at her himself, for being so upset over such a trivial matter.

Nevertheless, after Charms, he tried to catch up with Lily, hoping to speak to her, but she very conveniently surrounded herself with a group of her girl friends, laughing and talking as they walked.

"Would you look at that! Trouble in paradise, eh, Snivellus?"

His wand in his hand in the blink of an eye, Severus snarled, "Black."

Black eyed his wand. He had yet to draw his, and Severus could understand why considering Flitwick was just one door away. "What'd you do to get Evans so mad at you? Didn't call her something nasty, by chance?"

That was so close to the truth that Severus lifted his wand. Black shrugged, said, "Keep your secrets," and turned to go, talking loudly to Pettigrew. Severus was going to ignore them, but he heard something that made his ears perk up.

"Well, Moony shouldn't have a problem," Black was saying. "You can stop that willow by pressing on that knot on the base, and then-"

"Sirius!" Pettigrew said anxiously. "Snape's right over there!"

"Oh, right," Black looked back, and then lowered his voice. Severus concealed himself by walking right behind a seventh year, who dwarfed him, and listened more closely.

"-passage under that tree," Black said. "How does Madam Pomfrey do it?"

Pettigrew swelled self-importantly. "She pokes it with a stick and it stops just like that! I saw her do it!"

"Well, next Sunday's the day-"

At the time, the seventh year concealing Severus took a different path, and he had to hurry and put some distance between the Marauder duo and himself. He had heard enough.

There was only one willow on the grounds which needed to be 'stopped', the Whomping Willow, the only moving tree in Hogwarts. And Severus had long suspected that something was fishy about Lupin skipping classes at a certain time every month. Now, thanks to some lack of caution on Black's part, it seemed he would finally find out.

* * *

He couldn't concentrate at all on the last class before the weekend, which was Transfiguration. He ended up being one of the only three to get extra work, the other two being Mulciber and Avery.

"Never thought we'd see the day!" Avery grinned. "What's up then, Snape? Head full of that mudblood?"

"Keep your voice down," Severus hissed. Sephiroth, passing by, gave them a cool look.

"He's hopeless," said Mulciber, staring after him. "No use asking him if he wants to join, I reckon. He's one of those mudblood lovers."

"Yes, but…" Severus trailed off. Couldn't he ask Sephiroth to go with him? This had nothing to do with the Death Eaters, and Sephiroth was a **Thunderbird,** wasn't he? He would love to explore, surely.

_No, _he decided. This was his mission, and his alone. If Lupin was indeed doing something illegal under the Whomping Willow, he would get him expelled. With luck, the other three would also be involved. That would be the ultimate vengeance against the Marauders.

* * *

So on Sunday night, when Severus was sure that everyone in his dormitory was asleep, he wrapped a travelling cloak around himself and tiptoed down to the common room.

To his annoyance, one of his housemates was, as usual, awake. Sephiroth sat near the fireplace with a copy of Transfiguration Today open in his lap. He wasn't reading it, staring into the fire instead.

This was a big problem. Scowling, Severus said, "What are you still doing up?"

Sephiroth turned his head, raising an eyebrow at Severus as he very pointedly looked him up and down; namely, his travelling cloak. Severus could feel heat rising on his cheeks. "None of your business where I'm going," he snapped.

"Indeed," Sephiroth pulled the magazine off his lap and got to his feet. "As it happens, I have an appointment to keep, myself."

Severus didn't know why, but the first thing that popped into his mind was, "With Hewley?"

Sephiroth didn't seem fazed. "Maybe."

"What are you up to?" Severus demanded. They were out of the Slytherin common room and headed towards the ground floor.

"Now, that's hardly fair to ask, considering." Sephiroth sounded a touch amused.

Should he tell him? Severus struggled with that question for a few moments, before blurting, "Lupin's up to something."

"Is he, now."

"You're new here, you don't know." Now that he had decided to tell, Severus found he couldn't stop. "Lupin goes to the Whomping Willow every month. I couldn't investigate before because I didn't know how to get past it, but Black let it slip. I'm going to find out what he's up to."

"I see." They had reached the Entrance Hall. "Good luck then." Sephiroth headed up the stairs.

"Where are you going, then?" Severus asked.

Sephiroth turned around. "Sparring," he said, and he was _smiling._

* * *

In spite of all his rule-breaking, Severus had never been out in the grounds at night. Everything seemed to change its appearance, to a point where he almost felt that he was somewhere unknown. The Whomping Willow loomed in the distance, a foreboding shadow. Severus crept towards it, all too aware that he was on the open grounds and anyone looking out the window might be able to see him, maybe as nothing more than a shadow, but a moving shadow nonetheless. It was a full moon, after all, bathing the grass and trees in its silvery light.

The knot at the base of the willow was not immediately visible. The tree was still, but as he neared it, it began to sway, despite there being no breeze. Pulling out his wand, Severus whispered, 'Lumos' and the wand tip illuminated the tree trunk, revealing the knot near the roots. Severus picked up a stick from the ground and took off at a run, weaving between the branches to get close to the knot.

The tree began to move at an alarming pace now. More than once, Severus felt his cheeks or arms stinging as the branches caught and grazed him. Ignoring the pain, he dove forward and pressed the stick to the knot.

At once, the tree froze, as if someone had petrified it. Breathing heavily, Severus held his wand in front of him and searched for a hidden passage. He did not have to search long; the passage was not particularly hard to find when one was actively looking for it.

He stepped into a long, narrow, winding tunnel. He crouched slightly, so as to not hit his head on the ceiling, and hurried forward. It was not evenly shaped, sometimes narrowing, sometimes widening.

He didn't know how long he had been walking for, when the passage abruptly opened into a room. Wand raised for light, Severus stepped into the room and looked around. The light fell on the walls, revealing long scratches and bite marks on it - something decidedly non-human had been here. Something wild and savage.

Suddenly afraid, Severus lowered his wand and extinguished the tip with a whispered, 'Nox'. He did not want to give away his position to whatever had been here and might still be here.

_Hang on…_

This was a full moon.

If Lupin had come here tonight, and it was a full moon, that meant he had been coming here every month at the full moon. Did that mean…

Surely not. Dumbledore wouldn't…

A howl split the night air.

Severus stepped back, his heart hammering so loudly in his chest that it felt as loud as the howl had been. Surely the monster… whatever it was… couldn't hear it too?

He began backing away, towards the tunnel.

Something suddenly slammed against the open doorway. Severus jumped. A moment later, the monster squeezed through, and he could finally see what it was.

It was Lupin.

That is, it resembled Lupin as in the size was the same. But that was where the similarities ended.

Severus had read about werewolves in his third year. They were humans that turned into wolves once a month - but there was nothing humane in the creature in front of him. Snout, claws, sharp teeth - it was every inch a monster.

It gave a growl and leaped forward. Severus jumped back, and then suddenly he was being dragged backwards as the werewolf missed him by only about a foot. A jet of light shot forward and hit the werewolf straight on the nose, and it fell to the floor, hissing.

"Genesis, no!"

_Rhapsodos?_

The one holding onto him let go, and he could finally see who it was - glinting in the dim light was a pair of spectacles.

_Potter!_

"What…?"

A flash of red, and the werewolf was knocked back another step.

"Both of you, go!" Rhapsodos called, his wand pointed at the werewolf. "I'll be right behind you!"

Not arguing, Potter seized Severus' hand and began backing away. Severus let himself be led in a daze.

They entered the tunnel. "He can't come in here," Potter said quietly. "But we ought to get out of here, anyway…" he was breathing hard.

Suddenly Severus could speak again.

"Lupin's a werewolf?" he demanded.

"Snape, you can't tell anyone." Potter's face was white in the little light coming through. "They'll expel him if everyone finds out."

"As well they should! What was Dumbledore think-?"

Something collided into Severus, and he almost fell back into the room beyond.

"Snape! You're okay, then?"

It was Hewley. He looked very pale.

"How did you-?" Potter began, staring.

"Angeal." Even in the dark, Sephiroth's silver hair was unmistakable. "Genesis is still inside."

Hewley did not pause to speak. He and Sephiroth both ran into the room where the werewolf was.

"All at once!" Hewley shouted. "Stupefy!"

Two more red beams joined his, and the werewolf was thrown to the wall. Sephiroth looked back at Severus and Potter, green eyes almost glowing in the moonlight. "Run, we'll cover you," he intoned. "We'll be right behind."

"No," said Severus, and he pulled out his own wand with trembling fingers. "We'll go together…"

"There isn't enough room in this tunnel to go together! You two first!" shouted Hewley.

There definitely was not time to argue, Severus thought. He began backing away, Potter along with him. Hewley was still yelling something, but this time he sounded reproving.

"No, Genesis, now's not the time! Sephiroth! Get back!"

About half a minute's distance away, Severus took in a long breath. He was trembling head to toe.

Hewley entered the tunnel only a few moments later, seemingly occupied with something behind him. "That won't go over well," he said.

"Transferring him to you," said Sephiroth's voice. A minute later, Hewley came to stand beside Severus, his wand pointed at… Rhapsodos?

He seemed to be unconscious, floating overhead. Astonished, Severus turned his gaze back towards the mouth of the tunnel. There was a blinding flash of light there that made him shield his eyes, and when he lowered his hand, Sephiroth was in the tunnel as well.

"He can't get into the tunnel," he said. "But I don't think we should revive Genesis just yet."

"No," Hewley agreed, running a hand through his hair. "Let's get out of here."

None of them were speaking as they made their way down the winding tunnel. As they emerged, Hewley said softly, "Rennervate."

Rhapsodos opened his eyes. No one spoke as he got to his feet. Then he pointed his wand straight at Hewley.

"My soul, corrupted by vengeance, hath endured torment-" he began.

"Don't blame Angeal," Sephiroth said softly. "I did it."

"Did what?" said Potter, but no one was listening. Rhapsodos' wand swiveled to point at Sephiroth instead, who did not move.

"-to find the end of the journey in my own salvation," Rhapsodos continued, "And your eternal slumber."

"LOVELESS again? You never change," Sephiroth said quietly.

A very thin smile broke out on Rhapsodos' face. He lowered his wand. "I will pay you back, my friend," he said. "And I suppose I shall try again, later."

"The one beyond the tunnel," Hewley said coolly, "is actually a human being. One of our classmates. You will never try again, Genesis. You should have never tried in the first place."

"Don't tell me he attacked Remus?" said Potter, looking outraged.

Rhapsodos did not appear to have heard him. He walked off towards the castle, alone.

He did not get very far. The great doors opened and Professor Dumbledore walked out, along with Professor McGonagall and Sirius Black.

"I have heard the most interesting story from Mr. Black," said Dumbledore, and his eyes were not twinkling now. "Come inside, all of you. I think we have a long night ahead of us."

* * *

**So, reviews? They make my day!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thank you! I thought the way Kreature was treated was horrible, as well. Sirius definitely wasn't following his own words about how to treat inferiors, there. And Sephiroth, quite frankly, doesn't care a lot about what people are saying about him behind his back, so he probably won't do anything. His loyalties will be made clear by his actions, though.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Severus had never been to the headmaster's office before. It was every bit as exotic as Dumbledore himself, with magical objects and knickknacks filling every surface except for the headmaster's desk, where a large box of sweets sat innocuously, and the perch for Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes, where the bird rested with its head tucked under its wing.

Dumbledore waved his wand, and chairs appeared out of thin air, six of them for the six students and one more refined chair for Professor McGonagall. "Sit down, please," he said. "I daresay this discussion will take quite some time."

No one sat except for Professor McGonagall. Potter and Black stood a distance apart from each other, Potter sending Black stormy looks and Black carefully avoiding eye contact. Rhapsodos and Hewley didn't move from their positions, while Sephiroth leaned against a shelf with his arms crossed.

Severus opened the 'discussion'. "You let a werewolf into Hogwarts!" he hissed.

Dumbledore looked at Severus over the top of his glasses. "Yes," he said. "He was turned through no fault of his own, and therefore does not deserve to be punished."

"He's a danger-"

"He caused no one any harm."

"I almost died!"

"Because you went somewhere you should not have."

Severus' nostrils flared. "You're blaming this on me? Since when is rule-breaking punishable by death, Headmaster?"

"This particular rule is precisely there to ensure your safety, as is the one concerning the Forbidden Forest being out-of-bounds."

"I would think," Sephiroth said quietly, effectively cutting through the discussion all the same, "The fact that a student did encounter Lupin is reason enough to consider relocating him."

Dumbledore inclined his head. "We will certainly increase the security-"

"Send him away from Hogwarts-"

Potter and Black both opened their mouths furiously.

"-during the full moon."

"No way," said Potter. "Remus is not going anywhere!"

Dumbledore held up a hand. "And where do you suggest?"

"Where he stays when Hogwarts is closed," said Sephiroth. "His home."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "I think," he said, "That this is a discussion best left for a time when Remus is able to join us."

"Professor," McGonagall finally burst out, "These boys were out after dark, every one of them. I hardly think-"

"Indeed," said Dumbledore. "I am most curious to know how five students encountered Remus Lupin at the same time. I know this much - his roommates, Mr. Rhapsodos, Mr. Potter and Mr. Black all realized that he suffers from lycanthropy. Sirius Black intentionally let Mr. Snape overhear the method to freeze the whomping willow and Mr. Snape went there to… what end, exactly?"

Severus stared angrily. "I don't think that's the point," he said hotly. "Black tried to kill me, you realize that, don't you?"

"But why," Dumbledore pressed, "Would he think that telling you the method would result in you going there?"

"I was curious, all right!" Severus snapped. "I wanted to know what he does there every month! That doesn't change the fact that Black almost succeeded in killing me!"

"Mr. Black will be dealt with," Dumbledore said calmly. "But surely you realize that you were not exactly blameless in this?"

"I was the target of-"

"The only victim in tonight's incident was Remus Lupin," Dumbledore spoke over him. "He was the only one who had no control over what transpired. And that brings me to my next point: I assume Mr. Potter and Mr. Rhapsodos went there to save Mr. Snape after hearing the story from Mr. Black, but what, exactly, were you, Mr. Hewley, and you, Mr. Crescent, doing there?"

Sephiroth and Hewley exchanged a glance. "Genesis told me that Lupin was a werewolf," Hewley said. "And Sephiroth, after a conversation with Snape, came to know that Snape was headed for the Whomping Willow. Sephiroth met up with me tonight; the topic came up."

"Are there not enough hours in the day for you two to speak?" McGonagall said sharply.

"We did not meet to talk," Hewley said, and there was no mistaking it, he was flushed. "We were sparring."

"You were out after dark, a forbidden activity, in order to spar, another forbidden activity?" McGonagall was flushed as well, though from anger.

"Yes," said Sephiroth.

"Outrageous! I expected better from you, Hewley, considering you are a prefect! Fifty points from Hufflepuff, and fifty from Slytherin, Crescent!"

Hewley flinched and bowed his head, while Sephiroth accepted the verdict without any change in expression.

"In that case," said Dumbledore, calmly, as if nothing had happened. "we may as well get the parts of the points awarded and deducted over with. Mr. Black, you lose Gryffindor two hundred points for your serious lack of judgement, as well as a month's worth of detention with-" he glanced at Professor McGonagall, who nodded, thin-lipped, "Professor McGonagall."

"He's not going to be expelled?" Severus burst out.

"If I expel him," Dumbledore said evenly, "the Blacks will be here, demanding to know why. What do you suppose I should tell them, Mr. Snape?"

"Surely you can tell the truth! He conspired to kill me!"

"In that case, I will also have to tell them that Remus Lupin is a werewolf. No, Mr. Snape," he added, as Severus opened his mouth again, "it is better that he remains at Hogwarts, with the knowledge that he very nearly caused one of his best friends, Mr. Potter, as well as Mr. Rhapsodos, to die, and another to be expelled."

Black hung his head. He did look thoroughly ashamed, but Severus was determined not to be fooled.

"He's getting away with attempted murder!" he snarled.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Rhapsodos, Mr. Hewley and Mr. Crescent were in just as much if not more in danger tonight," Dumbledore said gravely. "And they were in danger through no fault of their own. You must consider the circumstances, Mr. Snape. We cannot punish an innocent along with the guilty, even if we must let the guilty person get away relatively easily. That said," he smiled slightly. "I think the time has come for rewards. Four of the people present here went to your aid by risking their lives. Let's see: fifty each for all four of you for loyalty to your classmate."

Rhapsodos smiled for the first time tonight, although very faintly. Potter grinned. Hewley and Sephiroth had no change in expression.

"I am not deducting points from you, Mr. Snape, and giving you no detention, despite the fact that you also endangered your classmates' lives by going to the Shrieking Shack."

"He was probably involved," Severus pointed at Potter, shaking in rage. "He probably got me in danger in the first place, and you're rewarding him?"

"I see no evidence that Mr. Potter had any knowledge of his friend's actions," said Dumbledore.

"It's because I'm a Slytherin, isn't it? Your precious Gryffindors-"

"That's quite enough!" snapped Professor McGonagall.

Dumbledore's eyes were unusually hard as they gazed at Severus, who, despite himself, flinched. "Also, all of you in this room must swear to me that you will not speak of Remus Lupin's condition to anyone who does not already know."

"I swear," Potter, Black and Hewley said immediately.

"I also," said Rhapsodos.

"As long as he is safely contained, I promise I won't tell anyone," said Sephiroth.

"Which he's not," said Severus coldly. "I refuse."

"You little-" Black burst out.

Dumbledore gazed at Severus disapprovingly. "Then may I suggest you look at it from another angle, Mr. Snape?"

"And, pray tell," said Severus, his lower lip curled. "What angle is that?"

"You owe your life to Mr. Potter."

"I don't," Severus growled. "He changed his mind, that's all-"

"Whatever you may choose to believe, his intervention saved your life. I daresay Mr. Potter will consider your life debt squared if you swear not to tell anyone of Remus Lupin's condition."

"Yeah, I will," said Potter, no trace of amusement on his face. He looked every bit as serious as Dumbledore.

"You dare hold that over me?" Severus snarled. "After what he's done to me all these years-"

"All the more reason to not want to be in his debt, then."

All eyes were on him. Severus gritted his teeth. Despite what he had said, he couldn't deny that Potter had saved his life, even if he had helped endangered it in the first place. And a debt to Potter, of all people-

"If you ask that of him," Sephiroth spoke up. "I think it's only fair that you ask everyone else to not speak of the fact that James saved Severus' life."

From the disheartened look on Black's face, it was clear that he had been planning exactly that. Potter however, nodded immediately. "I won't," he said. "And neither will Sirius, if Snape promises not to tell anyone of Remus' condition."

"Well, Mr. Snape?" said Dumbledore.

Potter was clearly desperate. Severus could only imagine what it would be like to hold this over Potter, but the life debt was definitely more troublesome than anything he could do to Potter.

"I promise not to tell anyone," he said, his lips barely moving.

Dumbledore inclined his head. "Thank you," he said. "You may all go. Mr. Crescent? Please stay back."

They filed out in silence. Potter and Black strode on ahead, not talking to each other.

"What a waste of opportunity," Rhapsodos said quietly.

Hewley whirled on him. "You almost died!"

"I almost succeeded!"

"Genesis!"

Their voices died away as Severus took a different turn from their path. He concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He had always known that Dumbledore was prejudiced, but this? This was like nothing he had ever imagined. He clenched his hands into fists. From tonight, Dumbledore was his enemy. From tonight, anyone who fought against Dumbledore was his ally. He would join the fight against Dumbledore, and he would savor the look on his face when his neglected Slytherins brought him down.

* * *

**See that box below? Click on it and type out your thoughts to let me know!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thanks for reviewing. Lily will talk to Severus soon, don't worry! Let me know what you think of this chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Severus woke up late.

He didn't know when he had drifted off, his last memory of last night being that of staring sleeplessly at the four posters of his bed. It had probably been past dawn when he had fallen asleep.

Red-eyed, he got up from his bed to wash up. A glance at the clock told him that breakfast had ended about an hour ago.

And no one had bothered to wake him… uncharacteristically stung by this, Severus nonetheless got dressed and headed out. He had to pause once he had reached the common room - a tray of toast and eggs were set on a table. Touching the plates told him that they were still hot.

Not knowing who they were for and deciding he didn't particularly care, Severus devoured them before heading for the library. He had a lot of homework that needed his attention, not least of which was the Charms extra work he had gotten yesterday. Hopefully the Marauders wouldn't jump him so soon after what they had tried to pull last night.

He didn't encounter many people on the way to the library, but there was a face at the library that was not altogether unwelcome - Regulus Black. He sat alone at a table, reading the Daily Prophet. Severus glanced at the heading, 'Death Eaters kill family of four'. He contemplated for a moment. This seemed as good a time and place to ask as any - the library was all but deserted.

"The movement's really picking up," he said conversationally.

Regulus looked startled for a moment, before relaxing once he saw who it was. "Yes," he replied. "They say the Dark Lord might actually claim Europe soon, succeeding where Grindelwald has failed."

"He's going to need as much help as he can get to do that, though."

Regulus' eyes narrowed at Severus over the top of his paper. "Many old families think he's on the right track," he said. "He's not lacking in support."

"Moral support is not enough, in this case." Severus raised his eyebrows.

Regulus looked around before leaning forward in his chair. "What are you actually suggesting, Snape?"

"How to put it - ah, do you and Nott share the same ambition?"

Regulus' gaze was intense. "Do you?"

"Yes," said Severus.

"Ah." Regulus leaned back in his chair. "Suppose I answer yes," he said. "How far does it carry?"

"Not far," said Severus. "Not _yet._"

He seemed to relax ever-so-slightly at that. "I won't be the first of my family to express such a wish," he said quietly. "But I haven't considered it thoroughly. I have nothing but the best wishes for _him, _but to actively take a part - that's a big decision, one I'm not comfortable making just yet."

"Understandable," said Severus, with a jerk of his head. "Once you've made a decision, you know where to find me."

Regulus nodded, his eyes back on the paper as Severus walked away.

Only to stop dead in his tracks as Lily Evans entered the library.

"Sev!" she exclaimed. "I've been looking all over for you!"

Severus fought to conceal a grimace. Being seen by a Dark Lord sympathizer with a muggle-born calling him 'Sev' was not on his to-do list today. And then he realized that Lily was talking to him, after so many days of ignoring him, and a smile automatically came over his face as his resentment died away. "Hey, Lily."

She came closer and grasped one of his arms, tugging on it to draw him away. After they had reached a free table, she faced him with worry written all over her face.

"What happened, Sev?" she said. "I heard you almost died last night!"

Severus blinked, shocked. "Who told you?"

"Remus did," she said. "He wasn't looking too well this morning, and I asked him if his illness was back, and he told me to worry about you because - what happened?"

Severus' lip curled. "I can't tell you," he said. "Dumbledore made me promise."

"Dumbledore - what?" she stared at him. "Why would he?"

"How much do you know?"

"That you encountered some sort of dangerous creature. That's what Remus said. He didn't tell me how or where, though. Sev - is the school in some sort of danger?"

"Not if you believe Dumbledore," Severus said bitterly.

"What were you doing out at night? Where did you go?"

Severus wanted to stay silent and keep everything a secret, he truly did. But one look at Lily's wide eyes and he found himself blurting, "I went to the Whomping Willow. There's a passage there, that leads to the Shrieking Shack."

"Oh, Sev, why would you go there? You know what they say - there's some sort of monster there that kills everyone who goes near it-"

"I didn't know that passage leads to the Shrieking Shack!" Severus exclaimed. "Black knew - he tricked me into going - seemed to think it was funny-"

Lily's face turned stormy. "Black," she hissed. "That's why Potter and Remus weren't talking to him this morning. And that's why Gryffindor's down one hundred points, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Severus felt a savage sort of satisfaction in admitting that.

"How did you survive? They say no one's ever seen the monster and come out alive."

Severus frowned as he tried to think of what to say. He settled for, "I realized what the place was at the last moment and backed off."

"So you haven't seen the monster?" For a moment, he could swear he had seen a little disappointment in her eyes.

"No," he said, wanting to say the opposite, wanting to impress her by saying he had fought the monster and come out unscathed. But he was no Potter; he didn't take undue credit. He hadn't fought Lupin - that had been Rhapsodos, Hewley and Sephiroth.

_Sephiroth… _he hadn't told Lily about Severus calling her a mudblood after all. Severus felt relief surge through him - he was now back in her good graces; at least one good thing had come out of last night's incident.

No, there had been something else good that came out of it. He had finally decided where his loyalties ought to lie.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay," Lily said, breaking him out of his reverie. She smiled at him. "What d'you say we go for a stroll in the courtyard?"

* * *

It was almost like they were ten year olds again as they spent the morning sitting under Severus' favorite tree in the courtyard. Lily helped him with his Charms homework; Severus taught her the new spell he had developed, 'Muffliato'. She cast it right on the third try, and they talked to each other knowing with absolute certainty that no one could overhear them.

"This feels nice," said Lily, sitting with her feet spread out and back resting against the tree trunk. "We should do this more often, Sev. It feels like all we do is argue, nowadays."

"It won't be like this for long," said Severus, enthusiastically. "Potter and his gang will leave me alone once I-" he trailed off, resisting the urge to clap a hand over his mouth.

"Once you what, Sev?" Lily evidently hadn't noticed his sudden panic; she was idly twirling a fallen leaf between her fingertips.

"Once I invent more spells," said Severus, swallowing.

"As long as you don't invent any nasty stuff," said Lily. "I thought the 'hanging upside down' thing was a bit over the top. It can be very humiliating for someone."

"Potter would deserve it," Severus said, his eyes hard.

Lily opened her mouth and closed it again, sighing. "We're not doing this now, Sev."

"Fine," said Severus, not at all sorry to have the conversation steer away from the Marauders. "Let's talk about something else."

"The dueling?" Lily suggested. "It's my match tomorrow night, you remember, don't you?"

"Yeah." He had actually forgotten, but he tried to make it appear as though he had always remembered. "Who's your opponent again?"

Lily made a face. "Regulus Black."

This ought to be exciting, but Severus inwardly winced at the thought that he wouldn't be able to show anyone that he was supporting Lily.

"Best of luck," he said. "Regulus isn't going to be easy."

"No," Lily agreed. "Good for me, that," she added, smiling. "An even match would be good for boosting my skill."

That made Severus smile as well. "You'll win, though," he said. "Your Charms work is outstanding."

"His spellwork is just as good," said Lily. "He won against John, and he's a sixth year."

John Stokes was a sixth year, also in Lily's dueling group. It had been a close contest between him and Regulus in the previous match; the duel had ended after five minutes with Stokes Stunned.

"Tough luck for Stokes," Severus said. "What with being in the same group as you and Regulus."

Lily lightly smacked his shoulder, smiling, before she glanced at her watch. "Time for lunch," she said. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

Severus did not watch the duels that day. Instead, he remained in the common room, bent over a transfigured desk as he made adjustments to the potion bubbling in the cauldron in front of him.

He had often made adjustments to his potions, but tonight he worked more vigorously than usual, filled with an urge to impress Lily after the day they had spent together. He would show her the improved formula, and even if she brewed it in class and earned more praise for herself, it would be due to his work, and that was something to be proud of.

She had been very impressed with his Muffling Charm. It made him wonder if less harmful spells were worth looking into after all, but then he dismissed the thought. Yes, they were useful, but considering the line of work he was planning on going into, the harmful spells were the ones that would come in handy. After all, there was someone else he had to impress…

He worked long into the night, past curfew. As his other friends rubbed their eyes and went off to bed, Sephiroth entered the common room and did his usual routine of settling on the sofa with some sort of reading material. He chose the sofa Severus was closest to, so he assumed Sephiroth was going to say something to him, but the silver-haired boy remained silent, quiet apart from the sound of pages turning.

Finally, Severus broke the silence.

"What did Dumbledore want last night?" he asked.

Sephiroth smiled a little, not taking his eyes off the magazine in his hands. "He offered some unorthodox advice."

"Like what?"

"Like how to continue our… ah… activities, without breaking curfew and thus losing points or getting detentions."

Severus frowned. "He wants you to continue dueling?" he said in a low voice.

"He thinks it's good practice."

"Against the Dark Lord?"

Sephiroth glanced at him once. "You don't call him You-Know-Who," he observed.

"I used to," Severus admitted. "Not anymore."

"Hm. What changed?"

"My loyalties."

Sephiroth turned to face him. "That," he said in a quiet tone, "Is a dangerous thing to say to me."

"You going to run off and tell on me? I haven't done anything yet," Severus said coolly. "You saw how Dumbledore treats Slytherins."

"Slytherins he thinks are going to be Death Eaters."

"You're taking his side?"

"Simply telling you the way it is."

"You can't possibly support Dumbledore!"

"Who I cannot support, is Lord Voldemort."

Severus shuddered. "You're saying _his name?_"

"I always have," Sephiroth said calmly. "And this Death Eater gig really isn't the fun stuff you think it is."

"I don't think it's fun - and how would you know?"

Sephiroth's eyes were cloudy. "I've killed," he said simply. "It's quite unpleasant."

Severus' heart jumped into his throat. "You've…"

A short nod.

"Who?"

"I think that's enough," Sephiroth said suddenly. He stood up. "Your potion needs stirring."

He walked away, leaving Severus staring after him in thunderstruck silence.

* * *

**R&R!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**slugfighter: Thanks for your review. Interesting perspective. And Sephiroth and Angeal don't belong to me, so I can't take credit for their names. They belong to SquareEnix.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Lily Evans's day started off on a wrong note.

After spending the whole of last day with Severus after what felt like years, she had gone to bed rather pleased and happy. Considering this, one would expect her to have nice dreams. But she had seen strange and garbled nonsense instead - one fragment even included her being the one who had sneaked down to the Shrieking Shack and saw Potter and Remus of all people, arguing over who had drunk the bigger bottle of firewhiskey. Then they both turned into wolves, howled furiously and attacked her and she woke up, annoyed with herself for her ridiculous imagination.

The reality was not much better - Mary and Alice were having a screaming match. Groaning, Lily flipped over in her bed and pulled her pillow over her head.

"-time, I didn't do it!"

"You borrowed it yesterday! Who else could have done it?"

Giving up on sleep, she rubbed at her eyes and sat up, poking her head around her curtain. "What's going on?"

Mary, red-faced, turned to face her, and Lily realized the problem: Mary's damp hair, normally a rich, dark brown, was Slytherin green with silver streaks.

A chuckle threatened to escape her; she settled for clearing her throat. "Ehm. How did this happen?"

"Alice borrowed my shampoo bottle yesterday! She must've-"

"I wish I could say I did, it's creative!" Alice said, snickering. "What with your new obsession over Crescent- but I didn't, I swear-"

Lily swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. "Did you leave the bottle lying around, then?"

Whatever Alice was going to say died on her lips. She frowned, a look of concentration on her face, before she said, "I don't think so, but I gave it back to Mary in the common room. She didn't bring it up immediately - it was on the table for a few hours."

"That settles it, then," Lily said decisively. "Everyone knows about your fangirlish attitude, Mary. I think Black or Potter did it."

Mary groaned, her face buried in her hands. "How am I supposed to face everyone now?" she said, her voice muffled. "I don't want anyone to see me like this!"

Lily stifled a yawn behind her hand. "Go to Professor Flitwick," she said. "He'll set it right."

"And how will I get there without anyone seeing-"

"Wear a headcover until then," Alice suggested.

"Yeah," Mary said, looking dejected.

Shaking her head, Lily went to wash up.

* * *

After breakfast, Lily decided to take a stroll around the Greenhouses. She found Aerith there, conversing with Professor Sprout.

"Hi, Lily!" she said, smiling.

"Hi, Aerith," she said. "Hello, professor."

Professor Sprout smiled at them both. "Good morning. I think I'll leave you to talk," she said. "My Mandrakes need tending to."

As she hurried away, Lily turned to Aerith to see that she was beaming. "She gave me the most wonderful advice on how to care for my plants," she said. "My Plangentines are almost about to bloom, want to see?"

"Sure," said Lily. Aerith led her to the back of the greenhouse, where the plants were gently swaying in the cold wind. Several of the buds were slightly open.

"They're great, Aerith," she said, touching and tracing a leaf. "But aren't they supposed to be planted in the summer? Who planted them?"

"I did, of course." Aerith was tugging at one of the buds, checking something.

"You were at Hogwarts this summer?"

"Yes, me and Sephiroth." She was frowning. "I think they need the temperature to drop a little more. This is only my first time planting these… I'll have to ask the professor…"

Lily watched her with wide eyes. "But… why did you stay at Hogwarts during the break? You weren't even a student then!"

Aerith straightened and blinked repeatedly. "Oh," she said quietly, looking as though she deeply regretted letting this information slip. "I don't really have a home here, except for this school. My parents died last year… it's just the two of us now."

Lily stared at her, astonished. "Aerith, I - I had no idea! I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," she said, her eyes on the ground. "Of course you didn't know - we don't really talk about it. It was rather horrible… " she looked up, offering a little smile. "But we're okay now. Professor Dumbledore was very generous. He offered to let us stay at this school."

Lily was feeling rather rotten for having brought this up. But really, how could she have known? Aerith had always seemed so happy and carefree to her, and while Sephiroth was stoic, he never seemed sad, and she had never guessed that there could be trauma in their past.

She wanted to ask what had happened for her parents to have both died in the same year, but at the same time, she didn't want to pry and make her even more sad. Perhaps she could ask Sephiroth instead…

"You said you were growing Dittany in the back garden when we first met," she said. "Is that at Hogwarts too?"

Aerith shook her head. "Oh no, that was in our home, back in the USA. When we shifted, I gathered the essence from those plants and brought it with me."

"That's nice," said Lily, forcing a smile. "If you don't mind, Aerith, why did you move?"

Aerith's eyes turned a shade darker. "Lily, I don't mind answering," she said. "But this is about Sephiroth, too, and I can't answer without asking him first."

Lily flushed. "I understand," she said quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"It's alright." Aerith brightened again. "Hey, I saw you talking to Severus yesterday. Everything's sorted out, then?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You noticed we weren't talking?"

"It was hard not to, with storm clouds hanging over the heads of you two whenever you saw each other," she giggled.

"I didn't realize we were that obvious," Lily said with a chuckle.

"Not _that _much," said Aerith, still smiling. "But living with Sephiroth, you learn to pick up on subtle cues."

"I guess you'll have to," Lily agreed. "I don't think I've ever seen him with any expression on his face!"

"That's overstating it a little," Aerith said doubtfully. "He smiles plenty of times, but I guess you wouldn't have seen it."

"Guess not," said Lily. "Speaking of, here he comes. I'll leave you two alone..."

"No, no, you don't have to," said Aerith. "You're his classmate, aren't you? There's no reason why we can't all three talk!"

Feeling awkward nonetheless, Lily fidgeted with her hands as Sephiroth came to stand a few feet from her. "Hello, Lily," he said, an improvement over the nods he used to greet her with. "I see you've found Aerith's favorite place."

Aerith giggled. "He's right, actually," she said to Lily. "I spend a lot of my time here."

"They're wonderful," said Lily, referring to the plangentines. "She's got quite a talent."

"Gardens spring up wherever she goes," Sephiroth said, smiling. Lily couldn't help but notice that his eyes had softened noticeably.

"Right before my brother treads all over them," Aerith said, mock-scowling.

Sephiroth snorted. "You're never going to let me live it down, are you?"

"Never," Aerith said cheerfully. "You destroyed my dandelions."

"I stepped over _two_."

"Still plural._"_

"I apologized, didn't I?"

"Doesn't bring back my dandelions!"

Laughing, Lily said, "I didn't know you were so persistent, Aerith!"

"Well, now you know," said Aerith, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "I'm very protective of my flowers."

"You've got a right to be," said Lily. "They require a lot of time and effort."

"You hear that, Sephiroth?"

He made a show of looking away in exasperation. "Now you're just being a pest."

Aerith put her hands on her hips. "You take that back."

"If I don't?" Sephiroth challenged.

"I'll set Nigel on you."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."

"Who's Nigel?" said Lily, looking from one to the other.

"Her owl," said Sephiroth.

"He's fascinated with my brother's hair," Aerith said, grinning.

"You send him to me, and he's going to be missing a few feathers," Sephiroth threatened.

It was Aerith's turn to narrow her eyes. "You wouldn't."

Sephiroth held her gaze, looking deadly serious. Stifling a laugh behind her hand, Lily said, "I declare myself not a part of this battle. In fact, I think I'll be leaving the war zone."

"Good luck on your duel, Lily!" Aerith called after her as she headed for the castle.

* * *

"Go get him, Lily!"

"You go, Evans!"

"Show him what Gryffindors are made of!"

Cheers followed Lily as she faced off with Regulus, waiting for Flitwick to count down from three. Regulus looked calm but far from relaxed, his wand held in a steady grip.

"Three! Two! One! Begin!"

Her spell met Regulus's; both ricocheted off at different angles. Lily shouted, "Bombarda!" which was blocked by Regulus's shield. She put up one of her own as Regulus cast a Stunning Spell. The shield held for his next two attacks while Lily tried to come up with a rapid strategy. As the shield dissipated, she cried, "Glacius!"

Regulus dove out of the way. As an athlete, he was naturally nimble and agile. Rolling to his feet in one smooth movement, he yelled, "Incendio!"

Lily couldn't put her shield up in time; the edge of her robe caught fire. Water gushed out of her wand tip, extinguishing the flames. But that small moment cost her; Regulus's next spell, the tickling Charm, hit her in the chest and made her erupt into laughter. Barely ducking from a spell, she somehow managed to gasp, "Finite!" and stood straight.

"Aqua Eructo!" she called.

Water jet flew out of her wand; she directed it straight at Regulus. Taken aback, he was hit in the face. Reflexively, he tried to bring his hand up to protect his eyes, which resulted in his wand almost shooting out of his hand. Getting a grip on himself, he cast a shield to stop the water flow.

A plan had formulated in Lily's head. She pointed her wand upward. "Avis!"

Birds shot out of her wand, circling overhead. She twisted her body to the side to avoid a curse from Regulus before pointing her wand at him. The birds dived towards him, clawing at every inch of him they could reach. He shielded his eyes with one hand while Vanishing the birds one by one, but there were too many, he just couldn't get them all before-

"Expelliarmus!" cried Lily.

Regulus's wand flew from his hand. Lily hastily Vanished the remaining birds and handed him his wand back, smiling as she heard Aerith's voice among the cheering.

"Good show, Evans," said Regulus, nodding at her. His face had a few shallow cuts, but other than that he seemed fine.

"Thanks," said Lily. "Not bad, yourself."

She could see Severus up there, giving her a thumb up. She returned it, making her way back to stand next to Alice to watch the next duel, who smiled at her.

"Well done, Lily!" she said warmly. "That was NEWT level, wasn't it? Avis?"

"Yes," Lily said, blushing. "It wasn't easy."

"Congratulations, Evans."

Lily turned, her face going stiff. "Potter."

James Potter smiled at her. "Hey," he said. "Listen, the first Hogsmeade weekend's coming up-"

"No."

"I wasn't asking you," said Potter, and he rolled his eyes. Lily gritted her teeth. "I was saying," Potter went on, this time pointedly not meeting her eyes, "If you'd just ask Mary for me? I'd like to go with her."

"Ask her yourself," Lily snapped.

"Okay, I will." Potter looked supremely unconcerned. "Who are you taking, then?" he asked, looking as if this was a question of no real importance to him.

Lily didn't know what made her say what she did. Perhaps it was anger at Potter's lack of manners, or perhaps it was the strange twinge in her stomach when he said he was not asking her but rather Mary. Whichever it was, she answered coolly, "Sev."

"You can't be serious!" Potter exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm perfectly serious," said Lily, and turned her back on him, to hide her blush as much as anything else.

Why had she said that? And would Severus even go with her?

Well. She would just ask and see.

* * *

**Leave a review before you click on that close button!**

**Reply to unsigned review:**

**Guest: Thank you! You're right in that Severus is letting his emotions get the better of him. For being such a stoic person, he can be remarkably emotional, especially when it comes to the negative emotions. And from what we read of him in The Prince's Tale, I drew the conclusion that he was very quick to lose control when he was a teenager.**


End file.
